TRANSFER  OF  ERIN 


Tee  :AcQmsirio?(  of  Mee^k^  by 

^cz■ 


BY 


THOMAS    C.    AMOKY 


PHILADELPHIA : 
J.    B.    LIPPIKCOTT    cSs     CO 

1877. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1877, 

By  THOMAS  C.  AMORY, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  "Washington. 


'^  u  u  1  u 


David  Clapp  &  Son Printers, 

564  Washington  Street,  Boston. 


^i-^bxo 


PREFACE. 


For  a  large  portion  of.  the  period  which  elapsed  from  the  Anglo- 
Norman  invasion  to  the  reign  of  Qiieen  Anne,  the  history  of  Ireland 
was  little  else  than  a  struggle  to  acquire  or  retain  property  and  pos- 
session of  the  soil.  Conflicts  of  race  and  creed,  of  rival  dynasties  and 
ambitious  chieftains,  of  enterprising  and  unscrupulous  adventurers, 
modified  or  disguised  the  issues  and  the  strife,  but  the  root  of  Irish 
discontent,  resentment  and  resistance  was  the  systematic  spoliation 
which  finally  succeeded  in  divesting  the  descendants  of  the  ancient 
pi'oprietors  of  all  interest  in  their  native  land.  Loyalty  to  estab- 
lished rule  and  common  nationality  too  often  yielded  to  this  sense  of 
wrong,  and  had  not  statesmanship  devised  methods  of  readjusting 
what  was  objectionable  and  at  times  seriously  imperilling  the  stability 
of  the  social  fabric^  itself, ^Ireland  would  have  continued  to  prove 
rather  a  source  of  weakness  than  of  strength  to  the  realm. 

Parliament  has  been  sustained  by  public  opinion,  in  recognizing 
the  duty  of  making  amends,  and  the  impolicy  of  leaving  an}'  just 
ground  of  jealousy  to  the  millions  who  fight  the  national  battles, 
and  who  in  time  must  participate  more  largelv  in  making  the  laws. 
The  tenure  act  is  an  initial  step,  which  if  followed  out  in  the  same 
spirit  will  soon  disarm  what  remains  of  disaffection.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  pres  Mit  state  of  tranquillity  and  order  is  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  restlessness  which  prevailed  before  these  measures 
were  adopted.  As  Ireland  under  just  legislation  starts  on  a  new 
era  of  commercial  and   industrial   activity,    without    infringement   on 


4  PEEFACE. 

vested  right  or  disregard  of  any  reasonable  pretension  the  future 
will  discover  ways  of  restoring  to  the  masses,  who  till  the  ground,  a 
larger  share  in  its  ownership.  The  plea  on  which  the  land  is  now 
held,  that  government  may  take  from  one  and  give  to  another  for 
national  security  and  consolidation,  would  justify  redistribution,  and 
the  increasing  value  afford  a  fund  for  compensation.  With  the  de- 
velopment of  its  natural  resources  under  good  government  the 
wealth  of  the  island  would  be  increased  manifold,  and  landlords 
derive  from  less  extended  areas  or  less  absolute  control  revenues 
largely  augmented. 

Any  such  course,  however,  if  within  the  bounds  of  eminent  do- 
main would  be  denounced  as  radical  and  agrarian,  and  happily  is 
not  called  for  to  effect  the  object.  Generations  are  of  little  account 
in  the  life  of  nations,  and  those  who  shape  their  destiny  may  safely 
leave  results  to  time.  With  the  more  general  diffusion  of  education 
and  consequent  equalization  of  property,  with  modified  laws  of  suc- 
session  likely  to  approve  themselves  to  growing  enlightenment, 
what  is  unreasonable  will  rectify  itself.  While,  goaded  by  a  sense  of 
injustice,  Ireland  was  ever  on  the  verge  of  rebellion,  the  stranger 
might  feel  some  reserve  in  intruding  his  researches  into  this  depait- 
ment  of  her  history.  But  now  that  faith  in  honestly  intended  re- 
paration has  appeased  long  cherished  animosities,  and  that  history, 
consisting  largely  of  these  successive  spoliations,  cannot  otherwise  be 
understood,  the  selection  of  the  subject  needs  no  apology. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  National  Bias,  .....        i^age    9-1 1 

II.  English  Invasion,           .....  11-16 

III.  Irish  Resistance,       ......  17-20 

IV.  Early  Appropriations,          ....  20-31 

V.  Extent  of  Possession,        .....  31-34 

VI.  Homes  of  the  Septs,     .....  35-37 

VII.  Subdivisions  of  the  Island,      ....  38-40 

VIII.  Ancient  Septs  of  Leinster  and  Meath,     .  4^-44 

IX.  Ancient  Septs  of  Ulster,         ....  45-49 

X.  Ancient  Septs  of  Connaught,      .         .         .  49-53 

XI.  Euegenians  and  Dalcassians  of  Munster,      .  53-56 

XII.  Ancient  Septs  of  Munster,          .         .         .  56-61 

XIII.  Thomond,    ........  62-6S 

XIV.  Desmond, 69-7S 

XV.  Government  and  Laws,     .....  78-SS 

XVI.  Language  and  Literature,           .         .         .  88-109 

XVII.  Manners  and  Customs,      .....  110-121^ 

XVIII.  Ireland  u.vder  the  Plantagenets,      .         .  12:^-129 


6 


CONTENTS. 


XIX.  Edward  III.  — 1327-1377,            .         .         .  Page  129-145 

XX.  Richard  II. — 1377-1399,        ....  145-157 

XXI.  Henry  IV. — 1399-1413,     .....  157-167 

XXII.  Henry  V. — 1413-1422,            .         .         .         .  167-171 

XXIII.  Henry  VI. — 1422-1461, 171-190 

XXIV.  Edward  IV. — 1461-1483,       ....  190-207 

XXV.  Edward  V. — 1483, 207 

XXVI.  Richard  III. — 1483- 1485,      ....  20S-211 

XXVII.  HenryVIL— 1485   1509,            ....  211-238 

XXVIII.  Henry  VIIL— 1509-1547,      ....  238-260 

XXIX.  Henry  VIIL  (Continued).— 1509-1547,     .         .  260-288 

XXX.  Henry  VIII.  (Concluded). — 1509-1547,         .  288-305 

XXXI.  Edward  VI.— i 547-1553,            ....  205-333 

XXXII.  Philip  and  Mary.— 1553-1558,     .         .         .  333-347 

XXXIII.  Elizabeth.— 1558-1572  ;  Shane  O'Neil,          .  347-376 

■ 

XXXIV.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1558-1572  ; 

Leinster  and  the  Pale,        .         .  376-393 

XXXV.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1558-1578  ; 

MUNSTER,  OrMOND  AND  DeSMOND,         .  394-434 

XXXVI.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1578-1584; 

Grey,  Glenmalure,  Sxierwick,     .  435-472 

XXXVII.  Elizabeth  (Continued).— 1584-15S8  ; 

Perrot's  Parliament,  Spenser, 

Bingham,     ......  472-494 

XXXVIII.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1588-1593  ; 

Armada,  O'Donnel, 

Fitzwilliam,            ....  494-504 

XXXIX.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1594-1597; 

Catholic  War,             .       '  .         .         .  504-524 


CONTENTS. 


XL.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1594-1598; 

De  Bourgh,  Blackwater,  .        Page 

XLI.  Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1594-1598; 

MuNSTER,  Spenser's  View,    . 

XLII.         Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1599; 

Essex,  Clifford's  Defeat, 

XLIII.       Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1599-1601  ; 
Tyrone,  Mountjoy,  Carew, 

XLIV.       Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1600-1601  ; 

LOUGHFOYLE,  CaRLINGFORD, 

XLV.         Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1601-1602  : 

Siege  of  Kinsale,  .... 

XLVI.       Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1602  ; 

Siege  of  Dunboy,        .... 

XLVII.      Elizabeth  (Continued). — 1602; 

Donal  Coom's  March  to  Leitrim, 

XLVIII.    Elizabeth  (Concluded). — 1 602-1 603  ; 
Tyrone's  Resistance  and 
Surrender,         ..... 

XLIX.       Conclusion. — 1603,    ...... 

Index  of  Names,    ...... 

Index  of  Battles  and  Sieges, 

Errata, 


524-54^ 
541-548 

548-555 
555-574 
574-591 
591-605 
605-615 
615-627 

627-632 
632 
645 
653 
655 


I 


TRANSFER  OF  ERIN. 


I. 

NATIONAL    BIAS. 

XTISTOIIY,  which  formerly  dealt  almost  exclusively  with  politi- 
cal revolutions  and  religious  controversies,  with  kings  and 
courts,  war,  its  campaigns  and  battle-fields,  of  late  has  extended  its 
province.  It  tells  us  more  of  the  inner  life  of  nations,  the  develop- 
ment of  their  industry  and  trade,  progress  in  intelligence  and  civili- 
zation. It  condescends  to  render  more  clear  and  intelligible  the 
course  and  causes  of  events,  by  taking  into  view  the  origin,  character 
and  vicissitudes  of  families,  classes  and  individuals.  Under  patri- 
archal governments  like  that  of  Ireland  for  twenty  centuries,  know- 
ledge of  what  concerned  the  whole  would  be  incomplete  without 
some  acquaintance"  with  the  annals  of  each  clan,  and  of  its  leaders 
where  they  chance  to  be  of  note.  It  is  also  a  help  to  know  some- 
thing of  the  place  they  inhabited ,  its  geographical  and  other  jjlij^sical 
conditions,  the  extent  of  their  possessions,  and  how  they  became  from 
century  to  century  enriched  or  impoverished.  It  is  not  easy  to  com- 
prehend with  precision  the  feuds  and  alliances  of  this  ancient  race , 
their  hates  and  attachments,  customs  and  traditions,  for  they  form 
a  tangled  web.  But  they  constituted  an  important  part  of  what 
rendered  them  peculiar,    and  invest  their  history  with  a  romantic 

interest  as  yet  but  partially  improved. 
2 


10  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Our  population  in  America,  and  especially  in  New-England,  is  so 
largely  composed  of  families  of  Irish  birth  or  origin,  that  what- 
ever relates  to  their  history  recent  or  remote,  falls  legitimately  within 
the  scope  of  our  assumed  obligations.  It  is  of  peculiar  interest  now, 
for  Irish  questions  which  have  been  for  centuries  fruitful  sources  of 
controversy,  have  attracted  of  late  more  than  ordinary  attention. 
Recent  works,  from  imputed  want  of  fidelity  to  truth,  or  from  their 
gross  partiality,  have  provoked  resentment  not  confined  to  those 
whose  country  or  ancestors  have  been  maligned,  but  arousing  every 
where  the  sympathy  of  the  generous,  who  love  fair  play.  All  hon- 
orable minds,  Irish,  English  or  American,  regard  with  indignation 
the  paltry  attempts  of  the  wealthy  and  powerful  for  selfish  objects 
to  prejudice  by  misrepresentation  the  victims  of  that  injustice  on 
which  rests  their  present  preeminence. 

Ever  since  the  invasion  of  Ireland  seven  centuries  ago,  from 
Barry  to  Trench  and  Froude,  Englishmen  have  been  striving  to  jus- 
tify their  intrusion  upon  a  people  weaker  than  themselves  in  numbers 
and  military  resources,  and  to  still  their  own  consciences  and  the 
reproach  of  other  men,  for  appropriating  lands  not  their  own  simply 
because  they  coveted  them,  by  misrepresentation.  Throughout  their 
writings,  public  documents,  even  acts  of  legislation,  is  exhibited  a 
design  to  vindicate  that  intrusion,  by  disparaging  or  vilifying  those 
they  dispossessed.  Ware,  Stanihurst,  Temple,  Davis,  Campion, 
Spencer,  Wood,  and  a  multitudinous  throng  of  others  of  more  or 
less  reputation,  hardly  one  of  them  but  betrays,  in  relating  his  ex- 
periences, or  stating  the  results  of  his  investigations,  his  par- 
ticular national  bias,  misrepresenting  events  and  characters  to  uphold 
a  theory,  flatter  a  prejudice  or  justify  a  wrong.  Many  of  them  were 
the  paid  advocates  of  vested  interests,  of  a  government  or  class. 
Where  passion  or  dishonesty  thus  poison  the  fountain  head  of  infor- 
mation, whatever  is  said  represents  an  opinion,  an  aggression  past  or 
intended,  some  conflicting  claim.  It  comes  consequently  with  sus- 
picion, is  obnoxious  to  criticism,  and  should  be  received  with  caution. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  11 

For  the  full  and  fair  consideration  of  these  questions,  all  the  judi- 
cial attributes  of  impartiality  and  candor  are  demanded.  One 
cannot  be  either  a  bigoted  Protestant  or  a  bigoted  Catholic,  English 
owner  of  Irish  soil  or  dependent  upon  those  that  are,  and  weigli 
evidence  so  conflicting,  or  pretend  arrogantly  to  be  wiser  than 
any  body  else.  The  authorities,  however  much  they  profess  to  be 
calm  and  dispassionate,  are  advocates  not  witnesses,  invariably  one- 
sided. Where  there  is  occasion  for  praise  or  reproach,  events  and 
characters  change  their  identity.  Soldiers  and  statesmen,  the  most 
exemplary,  lose  all  claim  to  respect  as  traduced  by  those  seeking  to 
disparage  them ;  monsters  of  extortion  and  iniquity  are  portrayed  as 
saints  and  heroes  by  their  partisans.  Vindication  of  one  side  in- 
volves reflection  on  the  opposite.  Temper  begets  recrimination,  and 
even  honest  effort  to  ascertain  the  truth  but  leads  farther  astray. 
Though  favorably  placed  here  in  America  for  impartial  judgment 
upon  contentions  in  another  land,  we  can  hardly  hope  to  avoid  alto- 
gether the  paths  beneath  which  are  still  smouldering  the  embers  in 
their  ashes.  It  is  of  little  service  to  any  one  to  disturb  them,  folly 
to  fan  them  into  fresh  flame  by  discussion.  But  when  injustice  is 
added  to  injury  by  misstatement  of  fact  or  perversion  of  evidence, 
silence  becomes  pusillanimous. 

No  one  of  late  has  done  more  to  exasperate  the  sensitiveness 
of  Ireland,  or  aggravate  its  grievances  by  stirring  up  strife, 
at  a  moment  when  parliament  and  public  opinion  were  alike 
combining  to  redress  them,  than  Mr.  Froude,  and  his  statements 
have  met  with  signal  and  eloquent  rebuke  from  Father  Burke,  Mr. 
Prendergast,  and  others,  from  all  sects  and  nationalities  and  from 
every  standpoint. 


12  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN 


II. 


EXGLISH   INVASION. 

Interesting  as  it  might  prove,  in  the  light  of  recent  archasological 
discoveries  in  the  okl  world  and  the  new,  it  is  not  our  present  pur- 
pose to  dwell  on  the  earlj  settlements  of  Ireland.  Whether  Caisser's 
or  Partholan's,  Nemidian,  Forraorian,  Firbolg,  Tuatha  de  Danaans, 
Belgian  or  Damnonian,  they  are  no  doubt  in  some  measure  fabulous, 
fact  and  fiction  intermingled.  Yet  it  cannot  be  disputed  that  long 
before  the  Christian  era,  strangers  from  Britain  or  Gaul,  from  Medi- 
terranean or  Baltic,  brought  into  the  island,  early  famed  as  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey,  diversities  of  race,  of  language  and  of  law. 
Nor  that  later  still,  about  the  time  that  Troy  fell  and  Rome  was 
founded,  from  Scythia  through  Spain,  with  harp  and  battle-axe  and 
an  advanced  stage  of  civilization,  proceeded  that  remarkable  dynasty 
of  Milesian  chiefs  who  for  centuries  formed  its  governing  and  enlight- 
ened class,  moulded  its  institutions  and  shaped  its  destinies. 
Enough  remains  of  tradition,  entitled  to  equal  faith  with  what  has 
been  transmitted  of  other  nations  of  Western  Europe,  to  inspire  re- 
spect and  interest  curiosity.  But  passing  over  what  has  come  down 
to  us  of  the  many  among  them  who  left  their  mark  on  their  day 
and  generation,  over  Druids,  Ossian  and  the  Sagas,  Scotch  kings, 
and  by  Scandinavian  pirates,  St.  Patrick,  Bridget  and  Columba,  and 
those  Holy  men  and  women  that  gave  Ireland  its  designation  of  the 
"  Island  of  Saints,"  and  "  School  of  the  West,"  by  Norman  and  Dane, 
we  proceed  to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  that  event  of  all  others  in  its 
annals  most  pregnant  with  serious  consequences  to  Ireland,  the  Eng- 
lish conquest,  a  struggle  which  commenced  seven  centuries  ago  for 
national  independence  on  one  side  and  subjugation  on  the  other, 
and  which  has  lasted  from  that  day  to  this.  Many  wrongs  have 
been  righted  and  grievances  redressed,  but  much  remains  to  be  done 
before  Irishmen  will  consider  that  struggle  at  an  end. 

Whether  the  bull  of  1153  of  Nicholas  Brakespeare,  the  English- 


TRANSFEROFERTN,  13 

man,  known  as  Pope  Adrian  4th,  or  that  of  Alexander  3rd,  twenty- 
years  later,  were  genuuie,  or  the  fabrication  of  Barry  or  some  other 
man  clever  and  false,   they  profess   to  give  Ireland  to  the  English 
Kings.     But  tlae  pope  had  no  authority  divine  or  human  to  dispose 
of  lands  or  nations,  no  right  actual  or  admitted  over  an  unwilling 
bride.     Nor  were  other  enforced  espousals  of  happier  augury.     Der- 
forguill,  daughter  of  the  prince  of  Meath,  when  in  1153  attached  to 
Dermod  son  of  Morough,  king  of  Leinster,  was  compelled  to  marry 
O'Eourke,  prince  of  BrefFney,  and  unhappy  in  her  conjugal  relations, 
she  fled  several  years  later  to  her  early  lover.     Roderick  O'Connor, 
king  of  Connaught  and  then  likewise  monarch  of  Ireland,   ordering 
restitution,  Dermod,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  as  king  of  Leins- 
ter, refused  to  obey,  and  being  consequently  deposed,   appealed  to 
Henry  II.    to  reinstate    him.     With  Plenry's  sanction,  he   invited 
Strongbow,  Eichard    Clare   earl  of  Pembroke,  younger  brother  of 
Gilbert,  earl  of  Hertford,  to  help  him,  promising  to  bestow  upon  him 
the  hand  of  his  daughter  Eva  in  marriage,  and,  what  he  had  no  right 
to  promise,  the  succession  after  his  death  to  the  kingdom  of  Leinster. 
It  was  natural  for  the  sturdy  and  grasping  race  who  had  taken  forci- 
ble possession  of  Normandy,  England  and  Wales,  to  wish  to  extend 
their  conquests.     What  had  already  been  realized  was  only  a  greater 
incentive  to  farther  acquisition   to  such  as  had  had  no  lot  or  part  in 
the  original  distribution,  or  who  had  already  wasted  what  had  been 
assigned  them.     The  conqueror  and  his  successors  looked  across  the 
channel  with  covetous  eyes  to  that  great  island   in  the  west,    which 
since  Brian  Boroihme,  150  years  before,  in  1014,  expelled  the  Danes 
or  greatly  crippled  their  power,  had  been  growing  in  wealth.     The 
permission  given  by  Henry  to  his  nobles  to  aid  Dermod  was  gladly 
improved,  and  besides  Strongbow,  the  Geraldines,  that  remarkable 
progeny  of  Nesta,  princess  of  Wales,  and  concubine  of  Henry  the 
First,  Prendergast,  De  Courcy,  DeBraose  and  St.  Lawrence,  with 
hosts  of  other    stalwart  men,  readily  volunteered,  embracing  with 
alacrity  this  opportunity  for  bettering  their  condition.     Thousands 


14  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

of  adventurers  from  England  and  Wales  joined  or  followed  them ; 
and  the  strongholds  and  wall  towns  of  Dublin  and  Wexford  along 
the  shore  belonging  to  Dermod's  dominion,  and  Waterford  and  Lim- 
erick which  had  been  built  by  the  Danes  and  were  still  occupied 
largely  by  thek  descendants,  being  taken  possession  of  with  little  re- 
sistance, from  their  strength  and  accessibility  for  supplies  and  rein- 
forcements from  England,  long  proved  a  serviceable  base  of  opera- 
tions to  carry  out  their  projects. 

That  the  invaders  should  have  gained  and  kept  with  comparative 
ease  this  base  of  operations,  yet  for  centuries  failed  to  complete  their 
conquest,  is  sufficiently  explained,  when  we  bear  in  mind  hoAv  not 
only  Ireland  with  her  clans  or  septs  at  this  period,  but  Europe  gen- 
erally under  the  feudal  system,  was  broken  up  and  subdivided  into 
petty  possessions  and  principalities  each  under  its  hereditary  chief- 
tain. These  chieftains  were  not  merely  rulers  and  leaders  of  their 
people,  but  proprietors  of  the  territory.  The  actual  occupants,  in 
their  several  ranks  and  degi'ees,  were  tenants  as  well  as  vassals,  their 
rights  and  duties  being  defined  by  established  law  and  usages  of 
mutual  oblio-ation.  Their  alleoiance  was  not  so  much  to  the  kino; 
or  country  as  to  the  immediate  chief,  who  as  liege  of  some  superior 
lord,  emperor,  or  king,  rendered  him  military  service,  rent  in  money, 
arrows,  roses,  or  spurs,  and  represented  in  his  own  person  his 
subordinates  for  whose  proceedings  he  was  responsible.  English 
monarchs  owed  and  paid  tliis  homage  and  fealty  to  the  French,  who 
in  a  few  instances  in  history  in  their  turn  held  the  reversed  relation 
to  them  as  royal  vassals. 

Retaining  their  conquests  by  intimidation  or  superior  military 
force,  it  was  the  Norman  policy  to  complicate  so  far  as  they  were 
able  the  network  of  feudal  relations,  to  impart  to  them  additional 
strength,  and  better  keep  the  people  in  subjection.  William  after 
Hastings  had  recompensed  his  principal  followers  with  fiefs  and 
manors  scattered  broadcast  over  the  land,  interspersed  among  those 
retained  by  himself,  or  bestowed  upon  his  kinsmen  and  more  devoted 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  15 

adherents,  that  he  might  rely  with  more  confidence  on  their  fidelity, 
and  they  be  enabled  more  readily  to  combine  their  forces  from 
their  different  possessions  for  mutual  support,  or  to  repress  disaffec- 
tion. This  policy  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  nobles  in  curbing 
the  tyranny  of  evil-intentioned  kings,  and  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
subjected  races  a  power  Avhich  they  were  too  feeble  and  too  little  or- 
ganized to  resist. 

The  feudal  laws  regulating  succession  and  inheritance,  if  not  quite 
uniform,  bore  a  general  resemblance.  When  a  proprietor  died  leav- 
ing daughters,  but  no  son,  his  estates  by  the  Norman  rule  were  dis- 
tributed among  them  in  equal  shares,  and  passed  with  the  consent 
of  his  superior  lord  to  their  husbands  and  children  of  other  names  ; 
titles  of  honor,  if  any,  remaining  generally  in  abeyance,  or  passing 
in  some  instances  to  male  heirs  more  remote.  As  the  same  law 
regulated  these  successions  and  their  own  rights  which  were  valuable, 
tenants  were  not  inclined  to  risk  the  displeasure  of  those  on  whom 
they  depended,  and  acquiesced  in  what  they  could  not  control.  This 
change  of  masters  without  their  being  consulted  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  natural  course  of  events.  When  some  stranger  became 
invested  by  conquest,  marriage,  inheritance,  gift  or  other  recognized 
title  with  baronial  or  royal  functions,  the  people  claimed  no  effectual 
right  to  object,  and  allegiance  and  homage,  the  condition  on  which 
they  held  their  lands,  soon  warmed  into  affectionate  loyalty  towards 
their  new  lord  on  whose  favor  their  prosperity  depended.  These 
personal  attachments  to  their  feudal  superior,  through  fear,  self- 
interest  or  gratitude,  for  kindness  received  or  expected,  thus 
taking  place  of  any  patriotic  love  for  their  country  at  large,  the  sense 
of  common  nationality  and  of  obligation  to  defend  it  grew  weak. 

Feuds  and  jealousies  from  disputed  rights  and  rival  pretensions 
between  neighboring  loi'ds,  clans  or  people,  engendered  resentments 
transmitted  from  generation  to  generation,  discouraging  any  general 
rally  of  the  clans  or  national  forces,  and  rendering  powerless  every 
combination  formed  to  resist  aggression.     It  was  only  when  peril  was 


16  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

unusually  imminent,  and  the  sovereign  sufficiently  wise  and  popular 
to  quiet  these  animosities,  that  it  became  possible  to  consolidate  the 
national  strength.  In  838  the  Irish  under  Niall  drove  into  the  sea 
the  earlier  Norman  invaders,  and  when  the  Danes  were  expelled  a 
few  years  later  by  Malachi,  and  again  in  1014  by  Brian  Boroihme, 
there  existed  more  unanimity,  and  their  efforts  resulted  in  regaining 
the  possession  of  the  island. 

The  existing  relations  between  kings  and  princes,  chiefs  and  their 
clans  in  Ireland,  corresponded  in  some  essential  points  with  the  pro- 
visions of  feudal  law,  in  others  they  greatly  differed.  All  the  chiefs 
derived  from  Heremon,  Ir  or  Heber,  sons  of  Milesius,  or  fi'om  Ith 
his  uncle,  and  held  their  several  territories  by  royal  grants.  The 
people,  unless  forming  separate  communities  like  the  Firbolgs  in 
Connaught,  or  Danes  in  Dublin  and  other  seaports,  or  later  as  the 
Flemings  near  Waterford,  or  Scotch  in  Antrim  and  Derry,  through 
intermarriages  Avith  younger  branches  of  princely  families,  gradually 
blended  into  one  race.  When  surnames  were  adopted  by  law  at  Tara, 
under  Brian  Boroihme,  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  clans  generally 
came  to  be  designated  by  those  of  their  chiefs,  or  one  of  his  ances- 
tors. If  not  all  of  Milesian  blood  they  formed  part  of  the  clan 
which  was  governed  by  Brehon  laws  established  under  earlier  kings. 
By  these  laws  the  land  was  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  sept  as  well 
as  to  the  hereditary  chief,  whose  right  to  his  castles  and  immediate 
domains  Avas  defined  and  passed  by  fixed  rules  to  his  heirs  or  to 
his  tanist,  who  like  our  vice  j^resident  was  at  the  same  time  as  himself 
elected  to  succeed  him,  in  case  his  heirs  at  his  demise  were  too  young 
or  infirm  to  administer  the  government.  Of  these  clans  there  were 
nearly  a  hundred  in  all,  respectively  subordinate  to  the  several  kings 
of  the  five  or  six  provinces,  who  in  their  turn  were  feudatories  to  the 
monarch  of  Ireland,  who  mounted  the  throne  sometimes  by  virtue 
of  his  superior  power,  sometimes  by  the  consent  of  the  princes. 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  17 

III. 
IRISH   RESISTAXCE. 

Such  was  the  political  aud  social  state  of  Iieland  when  the  Eng- 
lish came,  and  if  we  glance  our  eye  upon  its  "^map,  we  shall  find  a 
clue  to  its  sad  destiny.  Its  area,  nearly  rectangular,  about  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  miles  in  greatest  extension,  by  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  in  breadth,  comprised  about  thirty  thousand  square  miles, 
or  eighteen  millions  of  English  acres,  in  five  chief  divisions,  Ulster, 
Connaught,  Munster,  Leinster,  aud  Meath.  At  the  time  of  the 
invasion,  and  for  long  ages  before,  the  government  was  a  confederated 
monarchy,  not  unlike  that  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  as  it  existed  a 
few  centuries  curlier  in  England.  Roderick  O'Connor,  destined  to 
be  the  last  monarch,  was  on  the  throne,  the  several  provincial 
kings  acknowledging  his  supremacy.  Munster  was  divided  into 
two  kingdoms,  Thomond  under  Donald  O'Brien,  Desmond  under 
Dermod  ]\IcCarthy.  The  Leinster  kings  were  Mc]\Iurroughs,  eld- 
est branch  of  the  Cavanaghs,  princes  of  Kinsellagh.  Ulster  was 
under  the  O'Xeils  and  O'Donnels.  Meath,  earlier  set  apart  for  the 
mensal  domains  of  the  monarch  of  Ireland,  had  been  alienated  by 
Laogaire  in  favor  of  the  sons  of  his  predecessor  Daniel,  and  was 
under  the  McLaghlins,  while  the  McMahons  Avere  princes  of  Uriel, 
a  territory  comprising  the  present  countries  of  Louth,  Armagh  and 
Monaghan.  These  chieftains  virtually  independent  were  often  at 
variance  among  themselves,  and  their  country,  fertile  in  soil  and 
weak  from  their  dissensions  and  at  the  same  time  exposed  all  around 
its  shore  to  depredations,  offered  an  irresistible  temptation  to  its 
poAverful  and  restless  neighbors. 

Two  years  before  the  invasion,  on  the  demise  of  Turlough  O'Brien, 
king  of  Limerick,  after  a  long  reign  as  monarch  of  Ireland, 
when  Roderick  of  Connaught  had  been  chosen  to  succeed  him,  at  a 
convention  of  princes  in  1167,  to  give  in  their  allegiance,  Der- 
mod McCarthy  king  of  Cork  or  Desmond,  Dounel  O'Brien  king  of 
3 


18  TRANSrEROFERIN. 

Limerick  or  Thomond,  Dermod  of  Leinster,  Dermod  McLagh- 
lin  prince  of  Meatli,  Tiernan  O'Rourke  prince  of  Breffhey,  Duncan 
McMahon  prince  of  Uriel,  Eochaid  prince  of  Ulad,  Fitzpatrick 
prince  of  Ossory,  Duncan  O'Phelan  prince  of  Decies,  and  others,  in 
all  thirteen  hundred  principal  men  and  thirty  thousand  followers,  as- 
sembled at  Athboy.  With  them  came  Asculph,  son  of  Torcal, 
prince  of  the  Danes,  from  Dublin.  The  power  of  Roderick  differed 
greatly  from  that  of  his  predecessors.  Meath  with  Tara  having  been 
alienated  from  the  crown,  Roderick  had  no  national  capital,  offi- 
cers, revenues,  flags  or  forces.  He  was  indeed  little  more  than  king 
of  Connaught,  liis  ancestral  dominions. 

He  did  what  he  could  to  prevent  or  stay  the  menaced  invasion. 
He  early  anticipated  what  was  impending,  even  before  Strongbow 
landed,  striving  by  remonstrance,  concession  and  conciliation  to  divert 
Dermod  of  Leinster  from  an  alliance  fraught  with  such  fatal  conse- 
quences. He  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  princes  of  Ulster  and 
Munster  and  to  his  own  lieges  in  Connaught  to  rally  for  their  gen- 
eral defence,  and  urged  the  king  of  Man  to  prepare  and  forward  his 
quota.  In  May,  1169,  took  place  the  first  landing  of  Anglo-Nor- 
mans near  Wexford.  Roderick  assembled  an  army,  and  at  Tara 
convoked  a  council  of  princes.  Adjourning  to  Dublin,  the  king  of 
Ulster,  and  ]\IcMahon  prince  of  Uriel,  disaffected,  drew  off  their 
forces.  The  King  led  his  army  to  Femes,  Dermod's  stronghold,  and 
compelled  him  to  recognize  his  authority,  and  secretly  to  promise 
to  send  away  his  allies.  Dermod  proved  a  traitor,  or  utterly  power- 
less to  close  the  gates  he  had  opened.  Numbers  of  English  knights 
and  their  followers  were  already  swarming  in  to  join  their  country- 
men, and  it  was  too  late  to  organize  against  them  with  effect.  Cor- 
mac  McCarthy,  son  of  the  king  of  Desmond,  repossessed  his  clan  of 
Waterford,  and  after  Dermod's  death  at  Femes,  in  1170,  Strong- 
bow  claiming  to  be  heir  to  the  throne  of  Leinster  as  husband  of 
Dermod's  daughter  Eva,  King  Roderick  defeated  liim  at  Thurlcs  in 
Ormond,   seventeen  hundred  Englishmen  being  slain.     Such  sue- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  1$ 

cess  (lid  not,  however,  always  or  perhaps  often  attend  the  efforts  of 
the  chiefs  to  stem  the  tide  of  ao;o;ression  on  their  territories. 

The  invaders  were  the  flower  of  England's  knighthood,  younger 
sons  with  every  thing  to  gain,  depending  for  their  subsistence  and 
prosperity  on  their  profession  of  arms,  which  they  had  studied  in 
the  best  schools  in  the  crusades,  on  the  continent,  or  in  civil  strife. 
From  her  French  possessions  retained  by  naval  force,  and  the  deve- 
lopment of  her  arts  and  trade,  England  had  greatly  the  advantage 
over  her  sister  isle,  in  all  the  implements  and  sinews  of  war.  Her 
warriors,  on  powerful  chargers,  both  alike  invulnerable  in  steel, 
rode  unharmed  through  battle-fields,  on  which  the  Irish  without  de- 
fensive armor,  and  with  inferior  weapons,  too  brave  to  retreat, 
fell  a  useless  sacrifice.  The  forces  that  accompanied  Henry  t}ie 
Second,  October,  1171,  were  forty-five  hundred  knights- and  men  at 
arms ;  but  the  lower  orders  and  ranks  greatly  exceeded  that  num- 
ber, and  there  were  already  in  Ireland  as  many  more  who  had  come 
over  before  the  king. 

Possibly  from  a  sense  of  inability  successfully  to  cope  with  tliis 
formidable  armament,  or  that  the  chiefs,  realizing  the  growing  power 
of  England,  and  the  inadequacy  of  their  own  confederate  govern- 
ment to  oppose  them  or  other  foreign  foes,  regarded  consolidation 
with  England  only  as  a  matter  of  time,  all  but  the  O'Xeils  and 
O'Donnels  of  Ulster,  wdiose  remote  position  protected  them  from 
immediate  molestation,  even  Roderick,  on  condition  that  his  riirhts 
as  king  of  Connaught  and  monarch  of  Ireland,  and  those  of  his 
subordinate  kings  and  princes  should  be  respected,  recognized  Henry 
perhaps  as  sovereign.  Henry  took  a  surrender  of  Leinster  from 
Strongbow,  and  gr&nted  it  back  on  condition  of  fealty,  whilst  Meath 
with  Tara  and  eight  hundred  thousand  acres  was  granted  to  DeLacy 
the  chief  justiciary.  If  the  chiefs  inputting  faith  in  Henry's  2)rdmise 
not  to  disturb  their  possessions  expected  to  be  protected  from  the 
rapacity  of  the  adventurers,  it  was  a  fatal  blunder,  and  they  soon 
discovered    theii-   mistake.     Dermod  McCarthy,  the  aged  king  of 


20  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

Desmond,  whose  territories  were  invaded  by  this  formidable  array, 
which  he  had  no  adequate  force  to  resist,  acknowledged  Henry's 
supremacy.  If  in  this  disloyal  to  his  country  and  its  national  inde- 
pendence, he  was  sufficiently  punished,  having  been  slain  a  few 
years  later  when  nearly  ninety,  by  Theobald  Walter,  at  a  friendly 
conference. 


IV. 

,  EARLY    APPROPRIATIOXS. 

Dermot  ]Mac  Morrough  died,  as  has  been  stated,  the  spring  after 
the  arrival  of  his  English  allies.  He  had  given  Fitzstephen,  the  city 
of  Wexford,  and  made  other  liberal  grants  of  territory.  Upon  his 
death  Strongbow's  claim  to  Leinster  was  of  course  disputed ;  it 
was  contrary  indeed  to  all  law  and  precedent.  Neither  could  Der- 
mod  give  nor  Eva  take  what  belonged  to  the  nation,  and  with  their 
consent  to  the  male  representative  of  the  McMorrough  Cavanaghs, 
its  hereditary  chieftains.  This  vast  domain,  out  of  which  many  grants 
had  also  been  made  by  Strongbow  prior  to  his  own  death,  six 
years  later  passed  through  Eva's  daughter  Isabel  wife  of  William 
Marshal,  earl  of  Pembroke,  first  in  succession  to  her  fiA^e  sons,  who 
each  in  turn  became  earl,  married  and  died  without  issue,  and 
afterwards  was  distributed  in  1243  among  her  five  daughters  or  their 
representatives.  Carlowwas  assigned  to  the  eldest,  Maud,  who  mar- 
ried Mowbray  duke  of  Norfolk,  whose  descendants  never  made  good 
their  claim  against  its  Irish  possessors.  Joan  carried  Wexford,  which 
seems  to  have  reverted  from  Fitzstephen  through  Montchesney  to 
William  de  Valence.  With  Isabel  Kilkenny  passed  to  the  elder 
branch  of  the  Clares,  whilst  through  Sybil  to  William  de  Ferrers, 
earl  of  Derby,  came  Kildare,  which  went  in  1290  through  the  De 
Vecies  to  that  branch  of  the  Fitzgeralds,  created  earls  of  Kildare,  in 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  21 

1316.  Eva,  who  married  William  dc  Braose,  had  for  her  share 
Ossory,  which  through  their  daughter  went  to  Lord  Mortimer  and 
merged  two  centuries  later  in  the  crown. 

Meath,  with  its  eight  hundred  thousand  acres,  given  by  King 
Henry  to  Hugh  de  Lacy,  was  subsequently  divided  by  him  into 
baronies,  bestowed  on  his  principal  followers,  Tyrrel,  Petit,  Fitz- 
henry,  De  I'Angle,  Tuite,  Chappel,  Constantine,  De  Freigne,  Nugent 
Nisset,  Hussey,  Dullard  and  Fleming.  When  slain  in  1186,  by  an 
adherent  of  the  dispossessed  chieftain,  his  son  Walter  succeeded,  and 
after  Walter's  death  Meath  went  to  his  granddaughters,  wdio  had 
married  De  Gcnevil  and  De  Verdon,  and  De  Genevil's  portion 
passed  afterward  through  Roger  Mortimer  to  the  crown. 

In  direct  violation  of  his  agreement  two  years  before  with  King 
Roderick,  Henry  at  Oxford,  in  1177,  without  any  other  pretext 
than  his  sovereign  will  and  pleasure,  gave  Robert  Fitzstephen 
and  Milo  De  Cogan  the  kingdom  of  Cork,  which  belonged  to  the 
McCarthys-  Of  the  millions  of  acres  it  contained,  however,  less  than 
two  hundred  thousand,  near  Cork,  was  all  of  which  they  could  then 
gain  possession.  Of  his  share  of  this,  Robert  Fitzstephen  gave 
his  nephew  Philip  de  Barry,  also  descendant  of  Nesta,  three  cantreds 
or  seventy-five  thousand  acres,  which  continued  in  Philip's  line  and 
name,  ennobled  as  Viscounts  Butte vant  and  earls  of  Barrymore, 
down  to  1824.  A  year  or  two  later  De  Cogan  and  his  son-in-law, 
the  son  of  Fitzstephen,  were  slain  near  Lismore  by  a  chief  of  the 
Mac  Tyres.  Wexford,  which  Dermot  McMurrough  had  given  with 
the  barony  of  Forth  to  Robert  Fitzstephen  on  his  landing  in  1169, 
the  king  took  away  from  him  and  bestowed  it  on  Fitzadelm,  ances- 
tor of  the  De  Burghs  in  Ireland, 

No  family  connected  with  the.  English  invasion,  and  the  subse- 
quent history  of  the  island,  is  more  renowned  or  more  remarkable 
than  that  of  the  Geraldines  springing  from  Xesta  Tudor,  princess  of 
Wales.  After  attaching  to  her  early  maidenhood  the  affections  of 
Henry  the  First,  by  whom  she  had  two   sons,   Henry  and  Robert, 


^^ 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


Nesta  married  Stephen,  constable  of  the  castles  of  Cardigan  and 
Pembroke,  by  whom  she  had  Robert  Fitzstephen,  who  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  expedition  into  Ireland.  She  subsequent- 
ly became  the  wife  of  Gilbert  Fitzgerald,  by  whom  she  had  three 
sons  and  a  daughter.  The  eldest  son,  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  whose 
wife  was  Alice  Montgomery,  granddaughter  of  Morough  O'Brien, 
king  of  Munster,  formed  also  one  of  the  company  of  Strongbow, 
his  kinsman,  and  received  from  him  what  is  now  the  county  of  Wick- 
low,  then  and  for  five  centuries  later  the  territory  of  the  O'Byrns 
and  O'Tooles,  as  also  Naas  and  OfFaly  that  of  the  O'Connors  in 
Kaldare.  He  received  a  few  years  afterward  Connelloe,  one  hun- 
dred thousand  acres  in  Limerick,  the  country  of  the  O'Connels,  who 
received  an  equivalent  in  Clare  and  Kerry,  still  possessed  in  part 
by  their  descendants,  one  of  whom  was  the  distinguished  liberator. 
By  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  De  Marisco,  his  third  son,  Tho- 
mas, acquired  the  territory  of  Wexford,  and  his  grandson  Decies 
and  Dromenagh  with  the  heiress  of  Fitz  Anthony.  His  grandson 
Maurice  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  De  Burgh  the  third  earl  of 
Ulster,  and  was  created,  1329,  first  earl  of  Desmond;  his  grand- 
son the  seventh  earl  bought  of  Robert  de  Cogan,  half  Desmond, 
part  of  Limerick,  Waterford,  Cork  and  Kerry,  which  was  not,  for 
John's  gift  at  Oxford  1177,  any  more  his  to  sell ;  and  Gerald  the  six- 
teenth, four  generations  later,  when  slain  in  1583,  had  nearly  six 
hundred  thousand  acres  in  Munster  to  forfeit  to  the  crown,  to  be- 
come the  spoil  of  adventurers.  Offshoots  from  this  line,  knights 
of  Glynn  and  the  Valley,  Kerry  and  Fitzgibbon,  of  Dromanagh 
and  Imokilly,  and  many  more,  held  also  vast  domains  in  Munster, 
acquired  by  inheritance  or  marriage.  From  William  the  brother  of 
the  first  Maurice  descended  Raymond  le  Gros,  a  distinguished  com- 
mander, whose  wife  was  Basilia,  sister  of  Strongbow  and  willow 
of  Robert  de  Quincy,  and  whose  two  sons  were  respectively  the 
progenitors  of  the  earls  of  Kerry,  and  the  family  of  Grace.  William 
received,  besides  Idrone,  Fethard  and  Glascarrig,  a  large  domain  in 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  23 

Kilkenny,  wliich,  transmitted  by  liim  to  his  second  son,  was  long 
known  as  Grace's  country.  A  tract  of  territory  in  Kerry  given  to 
Raymond  by  Dermot  McCarthy,  for  aid  in  reducing  to  obedience  his 
son  Cormac,  who  disapproved  of  his  father's  acknowledging  fealty  to 
the  English  king,  has  been  for  seven  centuries  the  estate  of  the  Fitz- 
maurices,  barons  and  earls  of  Kerry  and  marquises  of  Lansdowne. 
From  "William,  the  eldest  son  of  Maurice,  derived  the  lords  of  Naas 
in  Leinster,  ending  in  an  heiress,  who  married  David  de  Londres ; 
while  from  Gerald  the  second,  sprang  the  lords  of  Offaly,  of  whom 
one  married  the  heiress  of  Rheban  in  Kildare,  and  another,  receiv- 
ing in  1291  a  grant  from  King  Edward,  of  that  country,  forfeited 
by  De  Yecies,  was  created,  as  before  mentioned,  in  1316  earl  of 
Kildare,  one  of  the  titles  of  the  present  duke  of  Leinster,  hie  repre- 
sentatives and  their  line  having  ever  since  possessed  them. 

Anghared,  sister  of  Maurice  and  daughter  of  Kesta,  became  the 
wife  of  William  de  Barry,  father  by  her  of  Gerald  Cambrencis,  the 
earliest  English  writer  of  note  on  Ireland,  and  of  Philip,  who  as  above 
stated  receiving  three  cantreds  of  land  in  Munster  from  his  uncle 
Fitzstephen  founded  the  house  of  Barrys,  viscounts  of  Butte vant 
and  earls  of  Barry  more.  The  matrimonial  alliances  of  the  different 
branches  of  the  Geraldines  with  the  families  of  the  Milesian  chiefs 
materially  strengthened  the  hold  of  the  British  crown.  On  the 
island  they  made  common  cause  with  the  O^Briens  and  McCarthys, 
in  opposition  to  any  encroachments  attempted  on  their  independence 
from  beyond  the  channel,  were  often  themselves  in  rebellion,  yet 
ever  interposed  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  any  general  and  well  or- 
ganized plan  of  operations  by  which  the  British  yoke  could  be 
shaken  off. 

John  de  Courcy  and  Amory  St.  Lawrence,  brothers-in-law,  also 
joined  thecompany  of  adventurers,  sworn  brothers  also,  like  D'Oilly 
and  D'lvry  of  Oxford,  in  the  Norman  conquest  of  England,  to  divide 
their  spoils.  They  first  attacked  Ulidia,  consisting  of  Down  and 
Antrim,  and  later  penetrated  into  other  parts  of  Ulster,  but  after 


24  TRANSFEROFEEIN. 

much  hard  fighting  were  driven  out  in  1178,  by  the  O'Xeils  and  their 
kindred  chieftains.  A  few  years  afterward,  however,  after  his 
marriage  with  Africa,  daughter  of  Godred,  king  of  Man,  in  1182, 
De  Courcy  was  in  a  measure  more  successful,  and  in  consequence 
was  created  earl  of  Ulster.  He  died  ahout  1229,  but  long  before 
King  John  bestowed  the  province  and  earldom  on  Hugh  de  Lacy, 
second  son  of  the  justiciary,  whose  wife  was  King  Roderick  O'Con- 
nor's daughter,  and  they  passed  with  Maud,  the  daughter  of  Hugh, 
to  Walter  de  Burgh  descended  from  Fitz-adelmn,  head  of  that  house 
in  Ireland  who  had  acquked  extensive  tracts  in  Connaiight  through 
or  by  marriage  with  a  daughter  of  another  O'Connor.  By  the  mar- 
riage of  the  heiress  of  the  De  Burghs  to  Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence, 
son  of  Edward  the  Third,  these  passed  to  Mortimer,  his  son-in-law, 
vesting  finally  in  the  crown,  and  among  the  royal  titles  that  of  earl 
of  Ulster  and  that  of  Connaught  are  still  preserved. 

As  some  compensation  for  the  lost  earldom  of  Ulster,  given  to 
De  Lacy,  INIilo  son  of  John  de  Courcy  was  made  lord  of  Kinsale 
in  the  south  of  Munster,  both  land  and  title  having  ever  since  been 
retained  in  the  line  of  his  descendants,  of  whom  the  present  is  the 
thirtieth  viscount.  John's  companion,  Amory  St.  Lawrence,  was 
created  lord  of  Howth,  and  for  seven  centuries  his  representatives  have 
retained  that  title,  now  an  earldom,  and  the  estate  then  granted  to 
their  progenitors.  A  niece  of  St.  Lawrence  was  wife  to  Roger  le 
Poer,  one  of  the  most  valiant  of  Strongbow's  company,  and  their 
posterity  with  various  fortunes,  but  generally  prosperous,  long  ruled 
over  Curraghmore,  or  Powers  country  in  the  county  of  Waterford, 
and  were  created  earls  of  Tja'one  in  1673,  the  third,  who  died  in 
1704,  being  the  last.  The  De  Pi*endergasts  have  ever  been  among  the 
most  honored  races  in  Ireland,  highly  esteemed  and  connected. 
Barnwell  w^as  also  one  of  the  early  invaders  ;  his  descendants  obtain- 
ed later  a  grant  from  tlie  crown  of  Bearehaven,  belonging  to  the 
O'Sullivans,  wljo  rose  and  destroyed  them  utterly,  only  a  mother 
quick  with  cliild  being  spared.     The  O'Sullivans  at  about  the  time 


TRANSFER     OFERIN.  25 

of  the  invasion,  finding  their  possessions  imperilled  at  Knoc  GrafFon, 
Ti^iperar}',  in  the  east  of  ]Munster,  removed  to  the  country  about 
the  Bay  of  Bantry,  Bearehaven,  Glanerought,  Iveragh  and  Dunker- 
ron  in  the  southwest,  and  there  among  mountains  almost  inaccessible 
for  four  centuries  remained  substantially  undisturbed  and  independent. 

The  rise  and  long  continued  power  and  prosperity  of  the  Butlers 
in  Ireland,  has  generally  been  supposed  to  have  originated  in  the 
remorse  of  Henry  the  Second  at  the  assassination  of  Thomas  a  Bec- 
ket,  whose  disposition  to  subject  the  king  to  his  ecclesiastical  domi- 
nation had  provoked  resentment.  The  sister  of  Becket  was  the  wife 
of  Theobald  Walter,  and  to  make  amends  he  was  appointed  by  that 
monarch  Butler  of  Ireland,  with  prisage  of  all  wines  imported,  he 
himself  and  his  descendants  taking  their  name  from  this  office. 
Upon  them  valuable  tracts  of  land  were  bestowed,  Avhich  belonged 
to  Carrols,  Kennedys,  Meagliers,  Sheas,  Donnelly s,  Fogartys, 
Ryans,  in  Kilkenny  and.Tipperary,  and  among  these  also  Knoc  Graf- 
fon.  Their  estates  stretched  from  the  Barrow  to  Lake  Derg,  and 
different  branches  of  the  name  received  titles  of  rank  from  the  crown 
to  which  they  were  generally  loyal  in  reducing  Ireland  to  subjection. 
They  were  created  lords  of  Carrick  and  Galmoy,  viscounts  Dun- 
boyne,  earls  and  dukes  of  Ormond,  the  greater  part  of  their  territory 
being  forfeited  in  1714,  from  the  preference  of  the  last  duke  for  the 
house  of  Stuart  to  that  of  Brunswick. 

The  name  of  Burke  is  even  more  extensively  multiplied  than  that 
of  Fitzgerald.  If  not  tracing  their  origin  directly  to  Nesta,  their 
founder  married  the  mother  of  King  William  the  Conqueror,  Arlotta 
of  the  inn.  Richard  the  Great,  his  descendant,  had  for  wife  Una, 
daughter  of  Hugh,  son  of  King  Roderick  ;  and  his  son,  Maud,  daugh- 
ter of  Hugh  de  Lacy,  earl  of  L'lster,  by  a  granddaughter  as  before 
mentioned  of  another  king  of  Connaught.  The  gr.  gr.  grandson, 
third  or  red  earl,  left  for  his  heir  a  granddaughter,  Elizabeth,  who 
marrying  the  duke  of  Clarence,   carried  the  title  of  earl  of  Ulster 

and  lord  of  Connaught  to  the  crown.     When  PhOlippa  Plantagenet, 
4^ 


26 


TRANSFER     OF     ERiN. 


daughter  of  tliis  Elizabeth  De  Buro;h  and  oranddauo-hter  of  Edward 
the  Third,  married  about  1360,  Edward  ]\Iortimer,  third  earl  of 
March  and  gr.  gr.  grandfather  of  Edward  the  Fourth,  their  united 
possessions  according  to  English  law  covered  the  province  of  Ulster, 
and  half  of  Connaught,  her  inheritance,  half  of  Meath  which  had 
come  to  him  throuo-h  the  marriao;e  of  his  o;r.  o;randfather  with  Joan 
de  Genevil,  granddaughter  of  Hugh  de  Lacy,  and  portions  of  Lein- 
ster  and  Munster,  Ossory  and  Kilkenny  from  that  of  a  more  re- 
mote ancestor  still,  Hugh  de  JNIortimer  with  Annora  daughter  of 
AYilliam  de  Braose.  Theirs  were,  however,  for  the  most  part  mere 
nominal  titles,  for  they  had  hardly  an  aci'e  of  this  territory  in  peace- 
able possession,  and  their  son  Roger,  fourth  earl,  who  inherited 
with  this  vast  domain  forty  thousand  marks  ready  money,  and  who 
was  sent  as  lord  lieutenant  into  Ireland,  was  treacherously  slain  there 
in  1398  by  his  own  countrymen.  Several  generations  earlier.  Car- 
thai  O'Connor  had  been  forced  to  yield  extensive  territory  in  Con- 
naught,  to  the  De  Burghs  his  kinsmen,  and  on  the  death  of  the  third 
earl  this  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  male  representatives  of  the 
family,  who  giving  up  the  name  of  De  Burgh,  for  a  while  assumed 
the  designation  of  Mac  William  Eighter  of  Galway,  oi'  Clan  Rich- 
ard, from  whom  derive  the  earls  and  marquises  of  Clanrickard,  and 
Mac  William  Oughter,  from  whom  proceeded  the  earls  of  Mayo. 
Another  branch  of  the  name  were  lords  of  Castle  Connel  and  Brittas. 
Identified  with  the  Milesian  races  by  these  matrimonial  alliances,  com- 
mon interests  and  habits  of  life,  as  also  by  their  language,  they  could 
often  be  of  service  to  them  by  their  support  in  perilous  conjunctures. 
They  became  to  all  intents  Irishmen,  and  probably  in  blood  repre- 
sent to-day  equally  their  Norman  and  Milesian  progenitors. 

Ten  has  been  usually  stated  as  the  number  of  principal  leaders 
in  the  invasion,  amongst  whom  Henry  II.  at  Oxford  in  1129  divid- 
ed the  island  ;  and  Sir  John  Davis,  in  his  Historical  Relations,  enu- 
merates Strongbow,  Robert  Fitz  Stephen,  Miles  de  Cogan,  Philip 
de  Braose,   Sir  Hugh  de  Lacy,   Sir  John  Courcy,   William  Fitz 


TR  A  X  S  F  E  R     OF     E  EI  N  .  27 

Adelmn,  Sir  Thomas  de  Clare,  Robert  le  Poer,  andOtlio  de  Grandi- 
son  as  the  favored  individuals.  The  grant  of  Tipperary  to  the  last 
mentioned,  took  place  a  century  later,  when  the  eminent  crusader  of 
the  name  returned  with  the  first  Edward  from  Jerusalem.  Whether 
then  or  earlier,  after  passing  through  several  of  his  representatives, 
the  estate  vested,  49  Edward  III.,  in  females.  Any  supposed  grant 
of  Thoraond  to  Thomas  de  Clare  at  Oxford,  would  be  an  anachron- 
ism. If  the  best  known  of  the  name  is  intended,  the  son  of  the 
sixth  earl  of  Hertford  who  married  Amy  daughter  of  the  ancestor 
of  the  earls  of  Desmond,  then  called  Fitz  Gerald  as  his  de- 
scendants afterwards,  he  took  advantage  of  a'  family  quarrel  for 
the  chieftainship  of  the  O'Briens  to  gain  possession,  under  his  grant, 
of  the  northerly  portion  of  Thomond  called  Clare,  from  his  thus 
possessing  it,  and  there  about  1280,  erected  several  strongholds  and 
castles,  among  them  Bunratty,  where  he  dwelt  and  his  sons  after- 
wards. Early  in  the  reign  of  Edward  the  First,  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed governor  of  London,  and  appears  to  have  been  a  favorite 
with  the  n^reat  Plantao-enet.  The  Leinster  estates  which  came  to  h'is 
grandfather,  the  fifth  earl,  wath  Isabel  one  of  the  five  heiresses  of 
Pembroke  and  which  were  then  vested  in  Gilbert  his  elder  brother, 
led  probably  to  his  connection  with  Ireland,  and  to  his  procuring 
this  grant  of  Thomond.  It  Avas  not  a  fortunate  acquisition.  His 
career  there  was  stormy  and  violent,  an  incessant  warfare.  He 
showed  a  crafty,  cruel  and  rapacious  disposition,  and  the  murder  of 
his  ally  Brian,  from  jealousy  or  disappointment,  was  a  crime  with- 
out extenuating  circumstances.  His  death  and  that  of  Fitzgerald 
occurred  in  1286.  His  two  eldest  sons,  Gilbert  and  Eichard,  left  no 
issue,  the  latter  and  his  son  being  both  slain  on  the  same  battle  field, 
in  1217,  when  thefiimily  of  de  Clare,  burning  Bunratty,  left  Thom- 
ond never  to  return.  Margaret  and  Maud,  daughters  of  Thomas, 
the  third  son,  carried  to  their  husbands,  Lord  Clifford  and  Lord 
Badlesmere,  a  barren  inheritance,  for  the  Dalgas  resumed  possession  of 
their  lands  and  have  kept,  if  not  all,  large  portions  to  a  recent  day. 


28  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

The  kingdom  of  Limerick  had  been  bestowed  upon  Philip  de 
Braose,  of  Brecnock,  who  not  wilHng  to  brave  the  perils  attending 
forced  occupation  of  territory  in  possession  of  fierce  and  hostile 
septs  disposed  to  dispute  his  pretensions,  transferred  his  claims  to 
his  son  William.  In  consequence  of  a  quarrel  with  King  John  for 
murdering  certain  Welchmen,  the  w^ife  and  son  of  William  were 
starved  to  death  at  Windsor,  he  himself  escaping  into  France,  where 
he  died.  His  nephew  William  married  Eva,  daughter  of  the  earl 
of  Pembroke,  and  received  for  her  share  of  Leinster,  Leix  and 
Ossory,  the  claim  to  which  passed  with  their  daughter  and  heiress  to 
Lord  Mortimer,  but  no  claim  Avas  ever  made  to  Limerick  under  this 
grant,  which  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  it  Avas  forfeited  when 
William  fled  into  France. 

Hervey  de  Monte  Marisco,  brother  to  the  first  earl  of  Pembroke 
and  uncle  of  the  son-in-law  of  Dermot  MclNIorrooh,  was  one  of  the 
principal  leaders  in  the  invasion  of  the  English  forces  and  received 
his  share  of  the  spoils  in  Wexford.  His  wife  was  Nesta,  daughter  of 
Maurice  Fitzgerald.  After  tAventy  years  of  activity,  not  attended  Avith 
much  success,  or  redounding  to  his  glory,  he  parcelled  out  his  estates, 
in  part  among  his  followers,  retaining  as  Avas  usual  his  signorial 
rights,  and  consecrated  large  portions  of  Avhat  remained,  by  gift,  to  the 
convent  of  Dunbrody,  Avhich  he  had  erected,  and  of  Avhich  he  Avas 
the  abbot.  His  nephcAV  JeflTrey  Avas  lord  lieutenant  in  1215,  and 
his  descendants  continued  to  flourish  down  to  1491.  In  the  history 
of  the  Montmorencies  Hervey  is  called  constable  of  that  house. 

When  in  1004,  Brian  Boroihme  ordered  the  clans  to  adopt  sur- 
names, it  was  in  consequence  no  doubt  of  some  necessity  specially 
felt  at  the  time.  Other  European  nations  Avere  gradually  in- 
troducing this  convenient  usage,  but  it  Avas  of  sIoav  groAvth,  and 
among  the  Normans  and  Saxons  Avas  far  from  being  general.  Even 
much  later,  several  of  the  principal  families  of  England  Avere  still 
designated  in  the  ancient  mode,  and  it  Avas  not  for  some  years  that 
Fitzstepheu,  Fitzgerald,   or  Fitzmaurice,  about  the  time  of   Henry 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN,  29 

tlie  Second,  became  family  names.  Thomas  Fitz  Anthony  was  an  in- 
stance of  a  distinguished  personage  of  wealth  and  power  and  large 
landed  possessions  of  Avhose  origin  nothing  is  known.  He  was  lord 
of  Decies  and  Desmond,  and  held  lands  in  Kilkenny.  Four  of  his 
daughters  married,  their  husbands  being  Gerald  Roche,  JefFery  de 
Norragh,  Stephen  Archdeken,  and  John  Fitz  Thomas.  In  one  of  the 
discontents  against  Henry  IH*  for  bringing  over  French  nobles  into 
England,  the  earl  marshal  took  sides  against  the  king.  Orders  were 
sent  to  the  Fitzgeralds,  De  Lacies,  Eichard  de  Braose  and  JefFery  de 
Marisco  to  waste  his  lands  and  secure  his  person,  whereupon  all  the 
son-in-laws  of  Fitz  Anthony,  except  Fitzgerald,  took  part  with  the 
earl.  In  1260  Fitzgerald  applied  to  Edward,  then  lord  of  Ireland, 
for  the  shares  of  his  brothers-in-law  in  tlie  succession  of  Fitz  Anthony, 
and  Decies,  Desmond  and  Dungarvan  with  other  lands  were  so 
granted  and  constituted  part  of  the  territory  forfeited  by  his  descend- 
ant, the  earl  of  Desmond,  in  1583.  ^ 

On  Maurice  Prendergast,  one  of  the  first  to  land  upon  the  island, 
Strongbow  bestowed  Fernenegal,  near  Wexford,  Avith  lands  besides 
in  Kinsellagh.  His  son  Philip  had  for  wife  Maude  dauohter  of 
Robert  de  Quincy,  who  was  slain  by  O'Dempsy  in  Ofaly,  and  who 
had  been  the  first  husband  of  Basilia,  Strongbow's  sister,  afterwards 
the  wife' of  Raymond  Fitzmaurice.  Of  Philip's  granddauohters 
coheiresses  of  his  son  Gerald,  Mary  married  John  de  Cooan,  and 
Matilda,  Maurice  de  Rochefort.  William,  brother  of  Gerald,  before 
1244,  held  valuable  possessions  in  IfFa  and  OfFa,  in  Tipperar}^,  as  also 
the  barony  of  Xew-castle,  and  his  descendants  gaining  many  acces- 
sions along  the  Suir  retained  them  till  1653,  when  driven  into  Con- 
naught  or  across  the  sea. 

Strongbow  gave  William  de  Birmingham  Carbry  in  Ofaly,  whose 
descendant  John  was  made  baron  of  Athenry  and  earl  of  Louth  for 
killing  Edward  Bruce.  To  Hugh  de  Roche,  he  gave  the  cantred 
Roches  country  in  Cork,  which  with  accessions  continued  in  that 
family,  well  connected  by  marriage,  till  viscount  Fermoy  was  dispos- 


30  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

sessed  by  Cromwell.  The  representatives  of  Arcliibald  Fleming, 
lords  of  Slane,  Plunkets  later  barons  of  Dunsany,  Killeen,  Louth 
and  earls  of  Fingal,  Nettervilles  intermarrying  with  Lacies  and 
Yeseys,  viscounts  Louth,  Walshes,  lords  of  Oldcourt,  Dublin,  one 
of  whom  gained  glory  in  crossing  the  Shannon  under  Eaymond  le 
Gros,  Aylmers  and  Whytes,  in  Kildare  ;  Herberts,  Colby s.  Moors, 
in  Kings  ;  Wale  and  Carew  in  Carlo w  ;  Devereux,  Sinnott,  Chee- 
ver,  Hore  in  Wexford ;  Louth,  Foi'esters,  Comerfords  in  Kilkenny  ; 
Talbots  of  Malahide,  Tyrrels  of  Castleknock,  Warrens  of  Cordiff, 
Luttrells,  Ushers,  Purcells,  in  Dublin  ;  Husseys,  barons  of  Galtrim, 
Everards,  Garlands,  Griffins,  Ivers,  Aliens,  Cussacks,  Garvys, 
D'Altons,  in  Meath ;  Hurleys,  Chases,  Supples,  in  Limerick;  Yer- 
dons,  Tates,  Clintons,  Dowdals,  Gernons,  Waltons,  Brandons, 
Moors,  Chamberlains,  in  Louth;  Russells,  Anthonys,  Savages, 
Eiddells,  Mandevills,  Jordans,  Stantons,  Copelands,  in  Dow^n,  are 
all  well-known  names  connected  with  the  early  days  of  English  rule 
in  Ireland,  and  nearly  all  of  them  common  here. 

Camden  also  mentions  as  in  the  country,  from  the  twelfth 
to  the  sixteenth  centuries,  Wolwastons,  Peppards,  Wallaces, 
Blacks,  Redmonds,  Esmonds,  Chattans,  Tobins,  Aliens,  Gennits, 
Wades,  Sweetmans,  Grants,  Archers,  Rochefords,  Datons,  Rothes, 
Wares,  Purfields,  Smiths,  Cooks,  Hooks,  Dens,  in  Leiuster ;  Con- 
dons, Nagles,  Morris,  Keating,  Johns,  Pierce,  Cummings,  Rice, 
Lombard,  Tallon,  Gold,  Baggot,  Skiddy,  Coppenger,  Porter,  Den- 
ny, Terry,  Gough,  Picket,  Dondon,  Waters,  Wolfe,  in  Munster  ? 
Blake,  French,  Bodkin,  Martin,  Crofton,  in  Galway.  These  names 
are  multiplied  in  America,  and  mentioned  as  a  help  to  students  of 
family  history.  At  what  pi'ecise  period  or  under  what  circumstances 
they  originally  settled  in  Leland  cannot  in  all  cases  be  ascertained. 
The  family  of  Dillon  created  barons  of  Kilkenny  and  earls  of  Ros- 
common in  1622,  and  viscounts  of  Castle  gillenin  1621,  derive  from 
Huo-h  Slaine  of  the  O'Neills  monarch  of  Ireland  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury.    After  being  settled  manifold  generations  in  Aquitaine,  they 


TRANSFEROFERIX.  31 

came  back  to  Ireland  in  the  person  of  Henry  secretary  to  King 
John.  It  would  be  vain  to  attempt  to  enumerate  the  families  of  ad- 
venturers and  undertakers  established  in  the  island  in  periods  com- 
paratively modern,  and  there  is  not  the  same  object. 


Y. 

EXTEXT    OF    POSSESSIOX. 

These  grants  from  Dermot,  Strongbow,  Henry,  or  his  immediate 
successors,  to  the  feudatories  above  mentioned,  covering  nearly  the 
whole  island,  had  neither  by  Brehon  nor  feudal  law  the  slightest 
validity.  If  might  makes  right,  if"  they  may  take  Avho  have  the  power, 
and  they  may  keep  who  can,"  if  overrunning  neighboring  states  by 
superior  military  power  and  confiscating  private  property,  could 
rightly  or  justly  affect  its  title,  neither  by  conquest,  submission  nor 
continued  possession  by  common,  feudal,  or  Brehon  law,  as  respects 
three  fourths  of  Ireland,  was  it  transferred  before  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Parchments  under  royal  seals  could  neither  create  nor  transmit 
title  which  the  grantor  had  not  to  bestow.  Neither  king  of  Lein- 
ster,  Connaught,  nor  Desmond,  could  give  or  sell  to  strangers 
what  belonged  not  to  themselves,  but  to  their  clans.  These  gifts 
from  Henry,  after  fealty  accepted  from  Dermod  and  Eoderick  Avith 
its  well  known  obligations  and  solemn  pledges  not  to  disturb  their 
rights  or  those  of  the  chiefs  of  the  clans  under  them,  were  simply 
acts  of  perfidy,  entitled  "  t/i  foro  conscientice,^''  or  by  the  rules  of 
eternal  justice,  to  no  effect  or  consideration  whatsoever. 

Outside  the  pale  consisting  of  portions  of  what  are  now"  Dublin, 
Kildare,  Lowth  and  Meath,and  the  ports  of  Wexford,  Waterford, 
Cork  and  Dundalk,  or  where  Geraldines,  Butlers,  De  Courcys,  Pow- 
ers and  Roches  in  Munster,  or  Burkes  in  Connaught,  were  allied  by 
marriage  to  Milesian  families,  and  more  Irish  than  the  Irish  them- 


32  TRANSFEEOFERIN. 

selves,  in  repugnance  to  English  rule,  with  many  interests  in  common, 
speaking  the  same  language  and  wearing  the  same  dress,  the  clans 
under  their  chieftains  retained  their  ancient  possessions,  rarely  paid  tri- 
bute, much  more  often  exacted  it,  were  governed  by  their  own  Brehon 
laws,  retained  their  OAvn  usages,  and  instead  of  assimilating  to  the 
English,  it  was  the  constant  complaint  of  the  English  statutes,  state 
papers  and  works  on  Ireland,  that  the  English  assimilated  to  them. 
Before  the  eleventh  century,  as  already  mentioned,  surnames  were 
not  customary  any  where,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  presume  the  Irish 
adopted  them  slowly.  The  previous  mode  of  distinguishing  individ- 
uals by  the  line  of  ancestors  in  three  or  four  generations  by 
christian  names  often  led  to  embarrassment,  especially  as  certain  giv- 
en names  were  of  constant  recurrence  in  particular  families,  and  the 
surname  itself  had  originally  been  of  this  character.  Mac  and  O 
indicating  descent,  the  strangers  resorted  to  similar  forms  to  render 
less  conspicuous  their  English  origin.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  the 
De  Burghs  assumed  the  name  of  Mac  William,  ISIac  Hubbard  and 
Mac  David  ;  Berminghams  took  the  name  of  Mac  Yoris,  Dexters 
that  of  Mac  Jordan,  Nangles  of  Mac  Costello,  one  of  the  Butlers, 
Mac  Pheris,  and  the  White  Knioht,  Fitzo-ibbon. 

With  these  precautions  taken  in  order  that  they  might  possess 
their  lands  without  disturbance  from  Milesian  chiefs  or  Ensrlish  gov- 
ernors,  though  active  lord  lieutenants,  de^^uties  or  justices  made  oc- 
casional forays  out  of  the  "  pale  "  and  by  concentration  of  forces  were 
able  to  slaughter  and  despoil,  after  the  first  century  of  invasion  to 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  not  one  fourth  part  of  Ireland  was 
in  the  possession  of  the  English  race.  The  victories  of  the  Milesian 
chiefs  were  as  frequent  as  theirs.  These  chiefs  w^ere  constantly  on 
the  defensive  against  the  evident  design  to  appropriate  their  lands 
and  reduce  them  to  subjection.  They  did  what  they  could  under 
many  discouragements  and  jealousies,  constantly  breaking  out  into 
embittered  warfare.  Accumulation  of  capital,  or  its  application  to 
agriculture  or  the  useful  arts,  the  pursuit  of  learning  beyond  what 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  33 

could  be  obtained  from  tlie  priests  and  monks,  comfortable  houses  or 
garments,  or  many  other  appliances  of  civilization  which  Englishmen 
are  apt  to  mistake  for  civilization  itself,  were  not  possible  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  despoiler. 

The  clans  tended  their  flocks  and  herds,  raised  their  own  corn, 
pursued  the  game  with  which  the  'woods  abounded.  Eeligious, 
social  and  fond  of  music  and  similar  recreations,  and  frequently  at 
war  among  themselves,  or  Avith  the  English,  the  life  they  led  was 
better  fitted  to  make  them  brave,  self-sacrificing  and  generous,  quick- 
witted and  wise,  than  one  such  as  is  commonly  called  industrious. 
The  numerous  beautiful  castles  erected  by  Irish  chieftains,  superb 
conventual  establishments  they  founded,  now  mouldering  all  over 
Ireland  with  dilapidated  walls  mantled  with  ivy,  testify  to  their 
taste  and  resources,  to  their  devotion  and  determination  to  preserve 
their  independence.  If  constantly  in  arms,  punctilious  and  quick 
to  resent  aggression  or  insult  or  to  espouse  the  quarrels  of  their 
neighbors,  their  history  overruns  with  sanguinary  conflicts,  it 
was  the  part  of  wisdom,  while  so  powerful  a  nation  as  the  English 
occupied  the  sea-board,  wdiile  fortresses  about  the  island  menaced  their 
liberties  and  the  security  of  their  possessions,  and  they  were  them- 
selves prevented  by  the  disturbing  presence  and  influence  of  a  rest- 
less and  treacherous  foe  from  any  national  consolidation,  to  encour- 
age wars  which  educated  their  people  to  resistance. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  Edward  Bruce,  after 
conquering  at  the  head  of  the  Irish  clans  the  English  in  sixteen  bat- 
tles, at  last  was  slain.  Ormond  and  Kildare,  rivals  for  power,  for 
two  centuries  after  divided  the  pale  with  their  disputes.  In  Mun- 
ster,  near  Cork  and  Waterford,  Fitzgeralds  earls  of  Desmond, 
Roches,  Courcys-and  Barrys  occupied  strong  holds,  while  McCar- 
thies  kings  oT  Desmond  and  their  kindred  chiefs  bore  actual  sway. 
In  Connaught,  the  O'Connors,  O'Briens,  Burkes,  Macnamaras  and 
McMahons,  intermarried  or  fought.  Meath  and  Leinster  were  inces- 
santly traversed  by  armed  men  going  to  battle  or  maraud.  Ulster  kept 
5 


34 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


out  the  stranger  for  a  time,  but  Scots  crept  in  from  across  tlie  cliannel 
or  from  the  isles,  McDonnels  settling  in  Antrim,  marrying  O'Donnels 
and  O'Neils.  The  government  at  the  castle  was  at  times  severe  or 
lax.  Usurpation  was  as  often  requited  by  reward  as  punishment. 
Whatever  authority  England  possessed  was  employed  by  the  fac- 
tions which  chanced  to  be  uppermost,  York  or  Lancaster,  Geraldine 
or  Butler,  to  wn^est  more  land  from  its  previous  owners,  the  welfare 
of  the  people  or  security  of  the  state  being  secondary  considerations 
to  individual  aggrandizement. 

But  still  Ireland  was  Irish.  Four  centuries  had  made  no  more 
impression  than  the  tide  upon  the  shore.  Ireland  had  cost  the  Eng- 
lish treasury  many  times  its  revenues  to  keep  Geraldiues,  Burkes 
and  Butlers  in  their  possessions,  but  still  remained  the  weakness  and 
embarrassment  of  England,  and  often  curiously  its  reproach.  It  is 
isad  to  think  that  Surry's  advice  had  not  been  taken.  Had  Ireland 
been  left  to  the  Irish,  as  Scotland  to  the  Scots  of  the  same  original 
stock,  the  peojile,  enjoying  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  English- 
men, would  have  soon  sought,  for  mutual  strength  and  protection, 
a  union  wdth  the  sister  island.  Irishmen,  lords  of  their  own  soil, 
masters  of  their  own  destinies,  and  not  tenants  and  bondsmen  to 
strangers,  would  have  become  the  honor  and  safety  of  the  united  realm  ; 
%vith  education,  the  arts  and  refinements  of  life,  industry  and  its  devel- 
opments, with  religious  liberty  and  toleration,  they  would  have  been 
in  Ireland  what  they  have  proved  themselves  here,  an  intelligent, 
thrifty,  law-abiding,  patriotic,  brave,  generous  and  noble-hearted  ■ 
people ;  they  would  have  vindicated  their  claim  to  be  possessors  of 
that  best  blessing  of  Providence,  self-government  which  they  have 
learned  by  sad  experience  at  home  how  to  enjoy  in  their  adopted 
country. 


TRANSFEIIOFERIN.  35 


VI. 


HOMES    OF    THE    SEPTS . 

lu  order  to  imdcrstand  the  gradua]  transfer  of  ownership  in  the  soil 
from  the  races  in  possession  at  the  time  of  the  invasion,  before  pnr- 
suing  further  the  course  of  events  that  brought  that  transfer  about, 
■\ve  must  consider  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  chins  of  whom 
the  popuhition  consisted.  There  have  been  times  not  very  remote 
when  researches  in  this  direction  might  well  have  suggested  suspicion  of 
ulterior  purpose  ;  but  it  is  not  so  now.  Laws  of  limitation  both  for 
rights  and  wrongs  are  everywhere  recognized  as  indispensable  to 
public  tranquillity,  and  the  actual  tenures  are  too  intimately  inter- 
.woven  with  the  whole  social  structure  for  any  pretention  to  disturb 
them.  Without  apprehension  of  misconstruction,  whatever  in  this 
department  of  Irish  lore  can  be  turned  to  account  to  elucidate  our 
subject  is  collected  here  for  convenient  reference.  The  authorities 
consulted  if  Avithiu  reach  of  diligent  inquirers  are  not  equally  acces- 
sible to  all  wlio  feel  an  interest  in  their  progenitors. 

The  districts  occupied  by  the  forty  one  Scotch  clans  three  centuries 
ago  have  been  recently  mapped.  For  reasons  sufficiently  obvious 
there,  not  only  the  clans  but  the  chieftains,  in  modified  relations, 
continue  to  exist  in  their  present  representatives.  In  Ireland, 
from  circumstances  reflecting  no  discredit  upon  the  chiefs  who 
from  fidelity  to  principle  have  been  divested,  the  old  race  remains 
under  unlineal  lords.  New  conditions  and  bounds  have  effaced  the 
ancient  landmarks,  but  the  same  names  familiar  for  centuries  in  their 
respective  neighborhoods  are  still  extensively  multiplied.  Rarely 
elsewhere  can  be  found  in  these  days  more  distinctly  marked  traces 
of  that  patriarchal  system  common  to  the  early  stages  of  social  devel- 
opment, for  the  study  of  whoever  is  interested  in  human  progress. 
In  many  parts  of  Ireland  not  even  the  incessant  strife  of  ages  or  dis- 
turbing elements  of  industry  and  improvement  in  the  arts  have 
wholly  removed  them,  though  they  have  materially  affected  the 
character  and  modes  of  life. 


36 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN 


Keating,  the  Four  Masters,  M'Geoghan,  following  the  ancient 
annals  all  place  the  arrival  of  Heremon  and  Heber  more  than  ten 
centuries  before  the  christian  era.  This  great  antiquity  is  disputed 
by  Woods  and  other  English  writers,  but  no  good  reason  is  advanced 
to  shake  the  probability  of  a  period  very  remote.  In  other  lands 
at  corresponding  epochs,  legends  too  precious  to  be  discarded  inas- 
much as  if  not  true  they  are  founded  upon  truth  and  point  the 
way  to  it,  have  been  handed  down  by  tradition  or  preserved  in  such 
records  as  they  had.  Tigernach  in  1080  dated  the  earliest  authentic 
Irish  history  to  which  implicit  credence  could  be  accorded  as  three 
centuries  before  Christ  when  Cymbaoth  erected  the  palace  of  Eraania, 
near  Armagh.  But  before  the  colony  fi-om  Spain,  Firbolgs,  w^hose 
nine  Kings  from  Slainge  to  Eochaid  and  Tuatha  de  Danaans,  whose 
eighteen  from  Nuadat  to  2737  A.M.  over  two  centuries  ruled  over 
the  land,  were  numerous  and  their  posterity  variously  intermingled 
are  still  represented  in  the  present  population.  Keating  enumerates 
three  families  known  in  his  day  as  derived  from  the  former,  Gad- 
braigh,  Tairsigh,  and  Galvin.  Cromwells  notion  of  hedging  in  the 
conquered  in  Connaught  was  not  original  Avith  him  for  there  what 
remained  of  the  two  previously  subjugated  nations  had  been  rele- 
gated by  the  Milesians.  They  long  remained  as  distinct  communi- 
ties till  Muradach  of  the  race  of  Heremon,  one  of  whose  grandsons 
Brian  was  the  progenitor  of  the  Hy  Brunes  consisting  of  O'Connors, 
Rourks,  Reileys,  Malleys,  Flynns  and  kindred  septs,  and  another 
Fergus  of  O'Dowds,  Shaughnessies,  Clerys  and  others,  was  in  the 
fourth  century  the  first  king  of  Connaught  after  defeating  the  Clan 
Morna  warriors  of  the  Firbolgs.  Conqueror  and  conquered  inter- 
mingled, and  both  alike  represented  in  the  present  inhabitants. 

The  early  divisions  of  the  island  by  Partholan,  Nennius,  and  the 
Firbolgs  gave  way  to  lines  agreed  upon  by  Heremon  and  Heber,  to 
the  former  of  whom  was  assigned  Leinster,  and  to  the  other  Munster. 
To  the  son  of  their  brother  Ir,  drowned  off  the  Skelligs  in  disem- 
barking, was  given  Ulster   and   the   Clan  Rory,  his  descendants, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  37 

held  it  undisturbed  till  the  fourth  century,  when  the  sons  of  Neal 
the  Great  wrested  away  the  larger  part  of  it.  To  the  descendants 
of  Ith  uncle  of  Milesius,  slain  by  the  Tuathade  Danaans  Avhilst  on  a 
friendly  visit  to  the  island,  and  to  revenge  whose  death  his  nephews 
came  over  from  Spain,  a  district  was  allotted  on  the  southerly  shore 
of  Cork,  about  Baltimore,  where  under  the  name  of  Driscolls  they 
are  still  to  be  found.  Ugainc  the  Great,  three  centuries  before  Christ, 
divided  the  island  into  twenty-five  principalities,  the  names  and 
boundaries  of  which  are  little  known  unless  they  are  in  a  few  instan- 
ces the  same  which  from  beyond  memory  have  attached  to  certain 
districts. 

Tuathal  in  the  first  century  taking  a  portion  from  the  other  prov- 
inces had  set  it  apart  for  the  special  domain  of  the  monarchs.  It 
did  not  long,  as  we  have  seen,  remain  inviolate.  Near  its  easterly 
bound  was  Tara  where  the  chiefs  and  kings  often  assembled  for  con- 
ference and  legislation,  as  they  did  at  Tailtan  for  annual  games 
after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks,  attracting  a  large  concourse  of  all 
ages  and  conditions,  and  the  occasion  it  is  said  was  improved  by  the 
chiefs  who  were  much  given  to  diplomacy  in  forming  matrimonial 
alliances  for  their  children.  INIunster  was  divided  by  Oliol  Olum  in 
the  second  century  between  Owen  and  Cormac  Cas,  the  former  re- 
ceiving Desmond,  the  latter  Thomond  while  Kian  a  third  son  was 
provided  elsewhere.  The  Keniads  posterity  of  Kien  embraced  the 
Carrols  of  Ossory,  Meaghers  of  Kilkenny,  Haras,  Garas,  Hen- 
nessys,  Caseys,  Conors  of  Deny  dispossesred  by  the  Kanes,  Breens 
of  Lune,  Flanagans,  Corcorans  of  Cleenish  in  Fermanagh,  Lough- 
lans  of  Moggalion  in  Mcath  and  Clankee  in  Cavan. 


38  TRANSFER     OFER  IN. 


VII. 


SUBDIVISIONS    OF    THE    ISLAND. 

It  was  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  king  and  chiefs  to  bestow 
Surnames  on  those  subject  to  their  rule.  These  may  have  exceeded 
two  or  three  hundred  in  all.  The  number  of  Chieftainries  was 
much  more  limited,  computed  variously  at  from  sixty  to  a  hundred 
and  eighty-five.  These  subdivisions  varied  with  the  vicissitudes  of 
war,  marriage  or  inheritance.  The  whole  island  was  divided  into 
gixty-six  thousand  six  hundred  ploughlauds  estimated  to  average 
about  one  hundred  Irish  acres  each. 

As  usually  computed  allowance  being  made  for  land  less  produc- 
tive, one  Irish  acre  was  about  equal  in  area  to  two  English,  but  the 
more  approximate  difference  is  about  two-fifths  more  for  the  Irish, 
or  as  twenty  to  twelve.  This  difference  proceeds  more  legitimately 
from  an  Irish  rod  of  long  measure  being  equal  to  seven  yards,  the 
Eno'lish  to  five  and  a  half.  But  there  is  another  embarrassment  in 
estimating  the  extent  of  a  plantation  acre  when  mentioned  in  histo- 
rical works.  In  grants  from  the  crown,  the  quantity  of  prime  or 
irood  land  within  certain  bounds,  or  embraced  in  certain  denomina- 
tions  Avas  alone  estimated,  all  less  valuable  thrown  in.  Under  color 
of  his  grant  of  blackacre,  whatever  of  whiteacre  or  inferior  soil  the 
patentee  by  force  or  fraud  could  appropriate,  he  was  permitted  to 
hold,  and  his  title  thereto  confirmed  and  quieted.  The  average  area 
thus  passed  has  been  estimated  as  high  as  thrice  the  c^uantity  actually 
expressed  in  the  grant.  It  was  not  before  the  seventeenth  century 
that  surveys  were  made  on  which  any  dependence  could  be  placed, 
and  then  it  is  easy  to  see  how  deceptive  they  must  have  proved. 

County  lines  established  at  different  periods  by  the  English,  as 
they  extended  their  rule,  corresponded  generally  to  the  boundaries 
now  existing.  King  John  created  twelve  counties,  Dublin,  Kildare, 
Meath,  Louth,  Carlow,  Wexford,  Kilkenny,  Waterford,  Cork, 
Limerick,  Kerry  and  Tipperary.     34  Henry  VIII.  Meath  was  divid- 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  39 

etl  in  to  two  counties,  the  westerly  portion  becoming  West  Meath  ;  and 
tlie  land  of  the  O'Byrnes,  before  part  of  the  county  of  Dubhn,  Wick- 
low.  3  Philip  and  Mary,  Leix  and  part  adjacent  after  the  O'Moores 
liad  been  subdued,  Avere  formed  into  Queens  ;  OfFaly  with  part  of 
Glenmalire  into  Kings.  In  15G5  out  of  Annaly  was  made  the  county 
of  Longford  by  Sir  Henry  Sydney,  who  divided  Connaught  into  Gal- 
Avay,  Sligo,  jMayo,  Roscommon  and  Leitrim.  Clare,  before  a  part 
of  Munster,  Avas  added  to  Connaught  in  1G02  at  the  request  of  the 
carl  of  Thomond.  Ulster  Avas  diA-ided  in  1584  into  the  shires  of 
Armagh,  Monaghan,  Tyrone,  Coleraine,  now  Londonderry,  Done- 
gal, Fermanagh  and  Cavan.  Earlier  mention  is  made  of  Down  and 
Antrim.  Besides  these  thirty-tAvo  counties,  the  cities  of  Dublin  and 
Cork  Avere  separate  shires.  For  centuries  these  lines  Avere  of 
little  significance.  English  authority  AA-as  confined  to  the  Pale  as 
it  Avas  first  called  under  the  Tudors.  It  embraced  portions  of  Dub- 
lin, Louth,  Meath  and  Kildare,  extending  along  shore  from  Dund- 
alk  to  Dalkey  eight  miles  south  of  the  Lifly  and  inland  to  Ardee, 
Kells,  Castletown — Delvin,  Athboy,  Trim,  Maynooth  and  thence  to 
Clane  and  Bally  more — Eustace.* 

County  courts  AA-ere  established  Avherever  protected  by  military 
force  ;  but  their  jurisdiction  could  not  be  sustained  ca^cu  over  the 
king's  subjects.  Against  English  rebels  or  Irish  enemies  his  Avrit 
was  powerless.  The  former  lords  enumerated  under  Henry  the 
Eighth,  as  thirty-one  in  number  held  their  courts  palatine,  baron  or 
leet,  administering  common  and  statute  law,  or  in  the  Marches, 
where  both  races  dwelt,  these  combined  Avith  the  ancient  laAv  of  the 
land  and  usages  growing  out  of  existing  need.  The  latter  acknow- 
ledged no  authority  or  control  over  them  except  that  of  their  chiefs, 

*  1515.  6  Henry  VIII.  State  Papers.  Part  III.  Vol.  II.,  pp.  9-22.  The  English 
Pale  doth  sti-etch  and  extend  from  the  town  of  Dundalk  to  the  town  of  Dervor,  to  the 
town  of  Ardye,  always  on  the  left  side,  Icavinfr  the  marche  on  the  riffht  side,  and  so  on  to 
the  town  of  Sydan,  to  the  town  of  Denfilc,  to  KylcolvC,  to  the  town  of  Clanne,  to  the  town 
of  Nasse,  the  bridge  of  KilcuUen,  to  the  town  of  Ballymore,  and  so  liaclvwards  to  the 
town  of  Ramore,  to  the  town  of  Rathenoo,  to  the  town  of  Tallaght,  and  to  tlic  town  of 
Dalkey,  leaving  the  march  always  on  the  right  hand,  from  the  said  Dundalk,  following  the 
said  course  to  the  said  town  of  Dalkey. 


40 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN 


were  governed  by  their  own  laws  enforced  by  tlieir  own  tribunals. 
These  independent  chieftainries  were,  at  that  time,  set  down  as  fifty- 
eight  in  all :  nine  in  Ulster,  ten  in  Leinster,  nine  in  Desmond* 
twelve  in  Thomond,  fifteen  in  Conn  aught  and  three  in  the  western 
part  of  Meath  then  not  divided.  English  process,  in  a  language 
few  understood,  if  served  no  one  obeyed,  and  levies  where  attempted 
on  their  cattle  provoked  repraisal  on  the  nearest  English  families 
whose  herds  were  exposed  and  resentment  was  only  quieted  in  blood. 
This  arbitrary  exercise  of  power  confused  every  distinction  of  right, 
and  if  in  later  days  property  in  Ireland  lias  been  less  inviolate,  it  is 
simply  the  poisoned  chalice  returned  to  the  lips  that  sent  it. 

In  the  general  view  now  proposed  of  the  geographical  distribu- 
tion of  the  septs,  an  approximation  to  exactness  can  alone  be  attempt- 
ed. If  incomplete  or  occasionally  incorrect,  it  may  still  afford  some 
guidance  amidst  the  perplexities  of  a  difficult  subject.  In  some  in- 
stances the  name  may  have  become  extinct  in  the  locality  designated, 
in  more  only  to  be  discovered  under  circumstances  greatly  reduced. 
Dispossession,  pursuit  of  employment,  increased  facilities  of  inter- 
course, have  carried  many  into  exile,  or  to  other  parts  of  the  island. 
In  great  cities  and  larger  towns  nearly  every  Irish  name  may  be 
represented.  But  generally  numerous  branches  remain  in  their 
original  neighborhoods,  and  by  assigning  each  family  group  to  the 
province  and  county  where  they  formerly  flourished,  some  idea  may 
be  formed  of  the  dwelling  places  of  them  all  at  the  time  their 
possessions  respectively  passed  to  the  stranger. 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  41 

VIII. 

ANCIENT    FAMILIES    OF    LEINSTER    AND    MEATII. 

The  southeast  corner  of  the  ishmd  betwen  the  Barrow  and  the  sea 
was  the  special  domain  of  the  Cavanaghs,  and  Femes  about  twenty- 
miles  north  of  Wexford  the  early  residence  of  tlie  McMorroghs 
their  chieftains,  princes  of  Hy  Kinscllagh  and  kings  of  Leinster. 
Along  the  easterly  shore  were  Larkins  chiefs  of  Forth,  Murphy s 
of  Hy  Felimy  or  Ballaghkeen,  Doyles,  McKeoghs,  Dowlings  of 
Ballynacor,  Garveys,  Horans,  Cullen  ;  and  inland  Ryans  of  Idrone, 
Cosgrys  of  Bantry,  Nolans  of  Forth  and  Gahans  lords  of  Shillelagh 
in  Carlow.  In  Wicklow  near  the  vale  of  Avoca  and  Glendalough 
were  the  O'Byrnes  of  Ranelagh,  Newcastle  and  Arklow,  and  farther 
north  and  west  O'Tooles  of  Fercular  and  Imaile,  Kilkea  and 
Moone.  In  Kildare  were  the  O'Connors  of  Offaly,  Carys  of  Car- 
berry,  Colgans  of  Ikeathy,  Dunns  of  Great  Connel,  Murrigans  of 
MoylifFy,  Cullens  of  Kilcullen,  Kellys  of  Reeban  and  Norragh.  In 
Kilkenny  dwelt  Brodars  of  Iverk,  Bolgers  of  Ida,  Donaghoes  of 
Knocktopher,  Sheas  of  Shillelogher,  Brennans  of  Idough.  In 
Queens  were  O'Moores  of  Leix,  Fitzpatricks  of  Ossory,  Carrols 
of  Ely;  and  in  Kings,  Dunns  of  Hy  Regan,  Molloys  of  Fercal, 
Mooneys  of  Garrycastle,  O'Dempseys  lords,  viscounts  and  barons 
of  Clanmalier.  About  Dublin  the  Danes  had  held  for  many 
years  before  the  English  invasion  exclusive  possession,  so  that 
nearer  than  Bray  to  the  south  where  the  O'Tooles  retained  their 
ascendancy  few  septs  remained.  North  of  the  city  Kellys  of 
Bregia,  and  in  Louth  Carrols  of  Orgiel,  Heas  of  Slane,  Rorys 
of  Moygallion,  Branagans,  and  both  north  and  south  the  MacGiol- 
lamholmoges  of  Cualan  were  at  times  formidable  when  allied  to 
septs  more  remote. 

Of  the  Meaths  the  McLaghlins  of  royal  race  were  kings  long  after 

the  invasion,  or  were  recognized  as  sovereigns  by  their  ancient  sub- 
6 


42  TEANSFEROFERIN. 

ordinates.  Their  chief  seat  was  early  near  Tara,  but  later  farther 
west.  The  system  adopted  by  De  Lacy  in  subdividing  his  domains 
amongst  his  principal  followers  weakened  the  power  of  the  chieftains, 
but  the  Connollys  of  Navan,  Dunns  of  Lune,  Finelans  of  Delvin, 
Kearnys  of  Fore,  McGeoghans  of  Tertullagh  and  Moycashil, 
O'Ferrals  of  Annaly,  Quins  of  Rathcline  in  Longford,  Hennesseys 
of  Moygoish,  Higgins  of  Usneach,  Tolargs  near  Athlone,  Hanra- 
hans  of  Corcaree,  McCoghlins  of  Delvin  Ara,  were  ready  when 
occasion  offered  to  assert  their  rights. 

Besides  the  names  already  mentioned  are  many  others,  branches  of 
Cahir  More  of  the  race  of  Heremon,  whose  posterity  supplied  the 
principal  dynasties  to  Leinster  and  many  monarchs  and  roydamnas 
to  the  throne  of  Ireland.  Many  of  them  were  distinct  septs,  subse- 
quently dispossessed  and  dispersed  among  their  neighbors.  Others 
long  retained  their  lands  and  independence,  subject  only  to  the  more 
powerful  chieftains.  Heelys,  Loughnans,  Callans  of  Ormond ; 
Gormans,  Dorans,  Lawlors  and  Dowlings  in  Queens ;  Brehans, 
Coghlans,  Hartys,  Bergins  in  Kings ;  McDonnels  in  Kildare> 
Deignans  in  Longford,  Sculleys,  CofFeys  and  Dooleys  were  at  times 
of  note,  though  not,  it  is  believed,  as  important  as  the  rest. 

Within  the  bounds  of  these  two  more  central  provinces,  besides 
some  remnants  of  Danish  race  and  name  and  a  larger  infusion  than 
anywhere  else  of  English,  there  are  naturally  to  be  found  represen- 
tatives of  nearly  every  sept  and  family  of  th£  island,  attracted  to  the 
neighborhood  of  the  capital  and  its  busy  marts.  Of  thirty-six 
hundred  thousand  acres  in  Leinster  three-fourths  are  under  cultiva- 
tion, of  the  nine  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  in  the  Meaths  less  than 
one  twelfth  are  mountain  or  bog.  The  climate  is  excessively  moist, 
the  yield  in  grass  and  grain  heavy,  and  markets  are  at  hand.  The 
former  province  constituted  the  territory  which  Dermot  McMorrogh 
instigated  by  resentment  offered  witli  Eva  to  Strongbow ;  the  latter 
what  Henry  the  Second  bestowed  on  De  Lacy  his  justiciary. 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  43 

IX. 

ANCIENT    FAMILIES    OF    ULSTER. 

This  province,  embracing  what  now  constitutes  the  counties  of 
Donegal,  Londonderry,  Tyrone,  Antrim,  Down,  Fermanagh,  Ar- 
magh, Monaghan  and  Cavan,  was  assigned  to  Heber  Don,  son  of  Ir, 
the  brother  of  Heremon  and  Heber.  There  his  posterity  the  Clan 
Rory*  long  dwelt,  some  of  them  passing  away  or  finding  abodes  in 
other  parts  of  the  island.  They  gave  twenty-five  kings  to  Ireland. 
Cearmne  and  Sobhance  A.M.  2870,  who  reigned  forty  years,  divid- 
ing the  island  between  them  by  a  line  from  Drogheda  to  Limerick, 
the  latter  having  his  residence  at  Dun  Patrick.  011a  Fodhla, 
an  author  and  lawgiver  of  renown,  who  reorganized  the  administra- 
tion of  the  government  and  established  or  revived  the  triennial 
assemblages  at  Tara ;  Ciombath  3539  who  erected  the  palace  of 
Emania  at  Armagh,  which  work  his  wife  Macha,  of  a  bold  and  en- 
terprising genius,  who  ruled  over  and  after  him,  would  seem  to 
have  completed  ;  Roderick  the  Great  3402  ;  Fachtna  the  wise  3470  ; 
Mai.  109,  and  Caobdoch  550,  were  of  most  note.  Thirty-five 
of  this  race  were  kings  of  Ulster,  among  whom  Connor  estab- 
lished or  renovated  the  Red  Branch  Knights  of  Emania,  one  of 
three  orders  then  existing  in  the  island,  the  other  two  being  in  Con- 
naught  and  Munster.  The  Clan  Rory  lost  their  supremacy  in 
Ulster,  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  when  two  sons  of  Neil  the 
Great  of  the  race  of  Heremon,  Owen  from  whom  descended  the 
O'Neils,  Keans,  MacSweenys,  Donnellies  of  Tyrone,  and  Conal  from 
whom  descended  the  O'Donnels,  O'Dohertys,  O'Galaghers,  Boyles 

*  The  Rudricians,  as  the  posterity  of  Ir  were  also  called,  consisted  of  the  families  of 
M'Guinnis,  M'Carthan,  More,  Cronnelly,  Dufran,  Moran,  Leniian,  Corsan,  M'Gowan  or 
Smith,  M'VVard,  M'Scanlan,  Kenny,  Lawlor,  Lynch,  Mannion,  Maginn,  M'Colreavy  or 
Gray,  Carolan,  Connor  Core  and  Kerrv,  Loghlin  of  Burren,  Kirliy,  Shanly,  M'Brien, 
Ferfal,  Roddv,  Gavnor,  M'Connack,  M'borcliy,  M'Raghneils  or  Reynolds,  Quinn,  Mul- 
vey,  Conarv,  Dioclialla,  M'Keogh,  Bcice,  M'Maehisas,  M'Rory  or  Rogers,  Corca-Dallan, 
Corca-Antim,  Dal-Conlinn,  Ciarruighe,  Cinal-Brine,  Gailcnge,  Liodan,  Drennon  and 
Duan. 


44  TRANSFEROFEKIN. 

and  O'Dalys  dispossessed  them,  and  for  more  than  twelve  hundred 
years  retained  their  hold  of  the  country. 

This  event  deserves  to  be  borne  in  mind,  marking  an  interesting 
epoch  and  serving  as  a  starting  point  in  unravelling  many  perplexi- 
ties. Besides  Owen  and  Conal,  Neil,  who  was  slain  in  405  after  a 
prosperous  and  brilliant  reign  of  twenty-seven  years,  had  Carbrei 
ancestor  of  that  sept  in  Sligo,  and  Ende  of  Tir-Enda,  in  Donegal  and 
Meath.  From  these  four  sons  proceeded  the  northern  Hy  Nials, 
whilst  from  Laogaire  the  first  christian  monarch,  ancestor  of  the 
Kindellans  in  Meath,  Conal  Crimthan  of  the  Melaghlins,  Feacha  of 
the  Macgeoghans  and  Molloys,  and  Maine  of  the  Caharnys,  Breens 
and  Magawleys,  were  derived  the  southern.  From  Laogaire  to 
Malachi,  deposed  by  Brian  Boru,  the  former  branch  gave  twenty-six 
monarchs  to  the  island,  the  latter  nineteen.  To  prevent  jealousies  it 
was  provided  that  these  two  branches  should  fill  the  throne  alternate- 
ly, the  successor  or  roydamna  being  selected  when  the  king  was  in- 
stalled, a  ceremonial  attended  with  many  rites  and  solemnized  before 
the  assembled  chiefs  and  people  at  the  place  and  upon  the  stone  kept 
sacred  for  the  purpose.  The  original  stone,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, was  carried  into  Scotland  for  the  coronation  of  Fergus  in  the 
seventh  century.  After  being  long  at  Scone  it  followed  the  Stewarts 
into  England,  where  it  is  still  preserved  in  Westminster  Abbey  as  a 
venerable  relic  and  used  on  similar  occasions. 

This  rule  of  alternate  succession  with  its  modifications  of  tanistry 
may  well  have  been  suggested  to  Nial  by  one  prevailing  since  Oliol- 
Oliim  in  Munster  and  brought  home  to  him  in  his  own  family  Qxpe- 
rience.  His  father  Eochy  Moyveon,  by  Mongfinn  sister  of  Crim- 
than, sixth  in  descent  from  Oliol,  had  four  sons  :  Brian,  ancestor  of  the 
O'Conors  of  Connaught ;  Fergus  of  the  O'Dowds,  Haynes  and 
Shaughnessys  ;  Fergus,  and  Oliol.  His  own  mother  was  Carinna, 
daughter  of  the  king  of  Bi-itain.  When  Eochy  died,  his  children 
being  too  young  to  rule,  their  uncle  Crimthan  raised  to  the  monarchy 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  45 

selected  Conal  of  the  Dalgais  to  succeed  him  on  the  throne  of  ISIun- 
ster.  This  incensed  tlie  Eoghanacth,  who  claimed  that  their  princq. 
Core  was  the  next  in  succession  by  the  alternate  rule,  and  this  being 
left  to  the  states  of  Munster  was  so  decided.  To  this  decree  Conal 
peaceably  submitted,  and  when  Core  died,  in  3Gfi,  succeeded  liim. 
"When  Crimthan  was  poisoned  by  his  sister  Mongfinn,  that  her  son 
might  rule  in  his  stead,  it  was  Xeil  and  not  Bryan  who  was  by  the 
choice  of  the  country  called  to  the  throne. 

Tyrconnel  now  Donegal  was  the  chicftainry  of  the  O'Donnels,  of 
whom  Rory  Avas  created  earl  of  Tyrconnel  in  IGOo,  and  his  descend- 
ants have  been  variously  ennobled  since  for  their  distinguished  mili- 
tary and  civil  services  in  Austria  and  Spain.  Their  feudatories  were 
the  O'Dogherties  of  Inishowen  between  Lough  Swilly  and  Lough 
Foyle,  under  whom  were  the  M'Gonigles  and  Donnellys,  M'Davets 
and  O'Coyles.  The  territory  west  and  south  was  occupied  by  oifsets 
from  these  stems — McFadden,  Bradley,  Laverty,  Ilaggerty,  Dor- 
nin,  Sheeran,  McCrosky,  McCroissan,  Curran,  Duffy,  Kernaghan, 
M'Bride,  M'Ward,  Gettyghan,- Preel,  Eafferty,  M'Gowan,  M'Hugh, 
M'Nulty,  M'Closky,  Dorrian,  M'Gilbride,  Clery,  Muldory,  Gormly, 
M'Lean,  Kenny  and  Quiny.  The  MacSweenys,  variously  derived  by 
different  authorities  from  Swain,  king  of  Norway,  from  Ir  and  from 
Heremon,  were  lords  of  Tuatha,  Castle  Duff,  Finad,  Banagh  and 
the  Rosses.  Other  principalities  were  Kilmacrenan,  Raphoe,  Boy- 
lagh,  Tirhugh  and  Ballyshannon.  At  Donnegal,  the  capital,  the 
Four  Masters,  one  of  the  standard  books  on  Irish  history,  was  com- 
piled. 

The  county  of  Londonderry,  originally  Coleraine,  between  Lough 
Foyle  and  the  river  Bann  outlet  of  Lough  Neagh,  comprises  the 
baronies  of  Tuckerin,  Coleraine,  Loughlinsholin  and  Keenaught 
which  belonged  to  the  O'Keans.  Branches  of  Hara,  Mullen,  Ma- 
guin,  McGilligan,  Conor,  Carolan,  Mulligan,  Brolihan,  Cassidy, 
Quigley,  McConnel  Devlin,  Keenan,  McCracken,  Scallan,  MoNamee 


46  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

occupied  the  territory,  making  way  early  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury for  King  James's  settlers.  After  the  destruction  of  Emania 
in  the  fifth  century,  the  kings  of  Ulster  had  their  principal  abode 
at  Aileach,  six  miles  from  the  city  of  Londonderry. 

Tyrone  formed  but  part  of  the  dominions  of  the  O'Neils,  which 
were  called  Hy  Neil  or  Kind  Owen,  of  which  the  castle  of  Dungan- 
non  was  the  chief  seat  and  its  barony,  and  those  of  Cloghcr,  Omagh 
and  Strabane  principalities.  Tlie  O'Xeils  held  sway  at  times  over 
nearly  all  Ulster,  and  ftu*nished  many  kings  to  the  throne  of  Ire- 
land. Their  chiefs  were  created  earls  of  Tyrone  and  barons  Dun- 
gannon  in  1542,  and  a  branch  viscounts  in  1793,  but  the  most  noted 
were  Shane  and  Hui>h  under  Elizabeth  and  Owen  in  1643. 
Eaflferty,  Mellan,  Connellan,  M'Shane,  M'Eory,  M'Taggart, 
MTntyre,  M'Guire,  M'Owen,  Croissan,  Curran,  Duvany,  M'Gol- 
rich,  M'Breen,  M'Caghwell  lords  of  Kinel  Feradaigh,  Tomalty, 
Etegan,  Donnegan,  Hagan,  Laverty  were  their  lieges. 

Armagh,  separated  from  Tyrone  by  the  Blackwater,  contains  Fews, 
chieftainry  of  the  second  branch  of  the  O'Neils,  Clanbresail 
formerly  of  the  MacCanns,  Orior  of  the  O'Hanlons,  and  its  baronies 
are  Armagh,  Turany,  east  and  west  Neilland,  upper  and  lower  Fews 
and  Orior.  Larkins,  Hanrattys,  Heirs,  Kiernans,  Carneys,  Tier- 
nays,  Callans,  M'Evoys  and  Marrons  are  family  names. 

Antrim  in  the  northeast,  bounding  south  on  Lough  Neagh  and 
Carrickfergus  Bay,  consisted  of  North  and  South  Claneboy,  belong- 
ing formerly  to  the  O'Neils  and  later  to  the  MacDonnels  earls  of 
Antrim.  Carey,  Dunluce,  Glenarm,  Kilconway,  Toome,  Masarene 
and  Belfast  were  baronies.  The  family  names  not  Scotch  or  En- 
glish, most  common  within  its  limits,  are  Shiel,  Hara,  Flynn,  Don- 
nellan  lords  of  Hy  Tuirtree,  Quillan,  Keevan,  Criordan,  Magees 
of  the  race  of  Heremon  of  Oilcan  ]\Iagee,  and  north  of  Carrickfergus 
Bay,  the  M'Nallys.  It  was  formerly  also  known  as  Dalrieda,  the 
north  portion  of  Dalaradia,  and  earlier  as  Endruim. 


TKANSFEROFEKIN,  47 

Down  or  Ulidia,  part  of  what  was  formerly  Dalaradia,  consisted 
of  Ards  originally  under  a  branch  of  the  O'Neils,  Iveagh,  Lecalc 
and  Moylnis,  patrimony  of  the  IVIagennises  of  the  race  of  Clan 
Rory,  Castlereagh  and  DufFerin  of  the  INIacCartans,  Kinelenty 
and  Mourne.  Among  other  names  familiar  in  the  county  of  ancient 
origin  are  Rooney,  Lonagan,  Colgan,  Cormac,  Moore,  Garvey, 
Kelley,  Rohan,  Macken,  Lawlor,  Lynch,  Moran,  Ileoghy,  M'Rory, 
Colteran,  and  Dunlevy  prince  of  Ulidia.  A  large  share  of  the 
present  population  is  of  course  Scotch  and  English.  Arthur,  chief 
of  Magennis,  whose  wife  was  daughter  of  O'Neil,  earl  of  Tyrone, 
was  created  viscount  of  Magennis  of  Iveagh  in  1622.  Bryan  the 
fifth  lord  died  in  1693  compromised  in  the  war  which  proved  fatal 
to  most  of  the  peers  of  Irish  race. 

Fermanagh  surrounds  Lough  Erne.  It  belonged  to  the  Magulres 
whose  chief  Bryan  was  made  baron  of  Enniskillen  in  1627,  a  title  for- 
feited by  his  son  Connor,  attainted  in  1644.  Clonkelly,  Lure, 
Magheraboy,  Clanawley,  Coole,  Knockiniuy,  INIaghaira,  Stephano 
and  Tyr  Kennedy  are  baronies.  Mac-Tiernan,  Fadagan  lords  of 
Tura,  Magrath,  M'Lenon,  Mehan,  Casey,  M'Garahan,  Corcoran, 
O'Keenan,  Gorman,  M'Enteggart,  Mulrooney,  Tracy,  Cassidy, 
Corrigan,  M'Manvs,  M'Corishenan,  Devins,  Leonard  and  Muldoon 
chiefs  of  Lure,  Tully,  Gilfinnen,  were  the  family  names  most 
multiplied. 

Monaghan  or  Uriel  formed  with  Armagh  and  Lowth,  at  the  time 
of  the  invasion,  the  kingdom  of  Orgiel,  of  which  M'Mahons  lords 
of  Dartry  were  chiefs.  Its  other  principalities  were  Clankelly, 
Cremorn,  Donagmain  belonging  to  the  O'Nenys,  and  Trough  of 
which  M'Kennas  were  chieftains.  Other  familiar  names  in  this 
county  were  Hughs,  Hoey,  Ileany,  M'Gilvray,  Connolly,  Cassidy, 
M'Ardle,  Duflfy,  M'Quade  and  Boylan. 

Cavan  with  Leitrim  formed Brefney,  di\idcd  between  two  branches 
from  Ard  Fin  of  the  race  of  Ileremon,  the  O'Rourkes  being  princes 


48  TRANSFER     or     ERIN. 

of  Leitrim,  O'Reillys  of  Cavan  created  by  Queen  Elizabeth  earls 
of  Branny  and  lords  of  Cavan.  Clanmahon,  Clonkee,  Castlerrahan, 
upper  and  lower  Loughtee  and  the  three  Tullaghs  are  among 
the  chief  subdivisions,  and  Daly,  Clery,  Fitzsimmon,  Govvan, 
Brady,  Conaghty,  Tully,  Mulligan,  IM'Hugh,  Dolan,  Sheridan, 
Brogan,  M'Cabe,  M'Tiernan  lords  of  Tullaghodonoho  and  M'Gom^- 
an  of  Tullaghar  names  most  familiar.  In  Clonkee  dwelt  a  sept  of 
that  name  peculiarly  warlike,  a  terror  to  their  foes.  They  are  now 
said  to  be  extinct,  and  of  the  numerous  proprietors  of  the  princely 
race  of  Cavan  but  one  family,  that  of  Heath  House,  is  mentioned 
by  Walton  as  remaining.  There  are  more  in  Meath  and  Louth, 
but  Butlers,  Bells,  Cootes,  Hamiltons,  Hudeons,  Lamberts,  Max- 
wells, Pratts,  Sandersons,  Singletons  and  Shirley s  representing  the 
earls  of  Essex,  with  others  of  Scotch  and  English  descent,  have  super- 
seded the  O'Reillys.  With  Lough  Erne  which  lays  chiefly  in  Fer- 
managh and  its  river  flowing  into  Donegal  Bay,  its  lofty  highlands 
to  the  west,  some  reaching  an  elevation  of  two  thousand  feet,  among 
which  rises  the  Shannon,  and  its  other  lakes,  streams  and  mountains, 
the  country  abounds  in  the  picturesque.  Ample  spaces  are  enclosed 
in  parks  and  pleasure  grounds,  but  high  rents  and  improving  land- 
lords have  driven  away  the  people,  who  now  number  less  than  two 
hundred  to  the  square  mile.  Extremes  of  opulence  and  destitution 
here  as  everywhere  else  in  the  country  are  disingenuously  attributed 
by  English  writers  to  race  or  sect,  Avhile  mainly  due  to  vicious  legis- 
lation and  to  the  exclusion  of  the  people  from  interest  in  the  soil  they 
till.  This  is  justified  on  the  specious  plea  of  the  political  necessity  of 
maintaining  the  union  and  protestant  ascendancy.  But  it  is  of  no 
practical  utility  for  either.  What  is  true  of  this  county  is  true  of  the 
rest ;  our  limits  forbid  wtth  regard  to  them  the  same  particularity. 

The  province  covered  an  area'of  over  five  millions  four  hundred 
thousand  acres.  Of  1,165,107  in  Donegal,  about  one-half  are  im- 
proved;   of    518,425    in  Londonderry,    one-fifth  only    waste;    of 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  49 

754,395  ia  Tyrone,  nearly  three-fourths.  In  Armagh  nearly  all  its 
328,000  acres  are  susceptible  of  cultivation  ;  in  Antrim  two-thirds  of 
its  780,000  and  in  Down  five-sixths  of  611,404  are  productive; 
of  456,538  in  Fermanagh,  327,048  in  Monaghan,  477,300  in 
Cavan,  the  soil  is  generally  good.  INIuch  of  what  is  now  waste  if  not 
stripped  of  its  growth  would  have  remained  of  value.  That  all  the 
territory  before  its  settlement  by  the  Scotch  was  improved  to  advan- 
tage is  plain  from  the  amount  expended  by  the  O'Ncils  under  Eliza- 
beth in  their  campaigns, — eighty  thousand  pounds  in  a  single  year. 
At  that  period  the  revenue  of  the  crown  from  such  portions  of  the 
country  as  were  subject  to  its  collectors  was  far  less  than  this,  and 
the  value  of  money  several  times  greater  than  it  is  at  present. 


X. 

ANCIENT   FAMILIES    OF    CONN  AUGHT. 

The  westerly  projection  of  the  island  into  the  ocean  embraces 
tlie  counties  of  Mayo,  Sligo,  Leitrira,  Roscommon,  Gal  way,  and 
before  1602,  of  Clare.  It  was  set  apart  by  Heremon  and  Heber  for 
the  Firbolgs  and  earlier  races,  but  in  the  fourth  century  was  con- 
quered by  the  descendants  of  Fiachra  of  the  posterity  of  Heremon. 
Muradach,  son  of  Fiachra,  was  its  first  king  of  that  dynasty,  and 
from  his  grandsons  Brian  and  Fergus  branched  the  Hy  Brunes  and 
Hy  Fiachras ;  the  former  consisting  of  O'Connors  Don,  Roe  and 
Sligo,  Rourkes,  Reillys,  MacDermots,  MacDonoghs,  Flaherty s, 
O'Malleys,  Flins  and  Flanagans,  Hanlys,  MacManus,  Fallons, 
MacKiernans,  MacBradys,  Donellans,  Garvys,  Malonys,  MacBren- 
nans,  Lallys,  Creans,  Fahys,  Breslans,  MacAodhs,  Crowleys, 
Finnigans,  Hallorans.    The  descendants  of  Fergus  were  the  Dowds, 


50  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

Shaughnessys,  Haynes,  Kilkellys,  Keanaighs,  Clerys,  Ceads  and 
Lennains. 

In  Roscommon,  between  the  Shannon  and  the  Suck,  at  Ballin- 
tobber,  famous  for  its  abbey,  was  long  one  of  the  chief  seats  of  the 
O'Connors,  kings  of  Connaught,  from  whom,  through  the  De 
Burgs,  descends  the  royal  family  of  England.  Another  of  their 
regal  residences  was  at  Cong,  between  lakes  Mask  and  Corrib, 
on  the  borders  of  Mayo  and  Galway.  This  place  was  also  famous 
for  its  abbey,  founded  by  Domnal  II.,  one  of  the  O'Connor  kings, 
who  was  monarch  of  Ireland.  The  duties  and  responsibilities  of 
government  demanding  health  and  vigor,  kings  and  chiefs,  as 
they  grew  old  or  infirm,  if  they  escaped  the  battlefield,  retired  to 
the  cloister.  Roderick,  the  last  unfortunate  monarch  of  the  island, 
spent  many  of  the  last  years  of  his  life  at  one  of  these  abbey  retreats, 
dying  in  1198  at  the  age  of  eighty-two. 

In  the  fork  between  the  two  rivers,  the  Kellys,  princes  of  Hy 
Maine,  ruled  over  Athlone  and  Moycarne,  part  of  Mainech,  which 
extended  across  the  Suck  into  Galway.  Dugans,  Donegans,  Mac- 
Brides,  Meanys,  Fallons,  MacKeoghs  and  Nortons  were  septs  under 
them.  North  of  Athlone  the  barony  of  Roscommon,  the  more 
special  demesne  of  the  kings,  were  Donnalans,  Bernes,  Hanleys, 
Conroys,  Monahans,  Flannagans,  MacDo wells.  Farther  west  were 
Baltimoe  and  Ballintobber,  divided  later  between  the  O'Connors 
Don  and  Roe,  Connellan,  Moran  and  Fenaghty,  and  to  the  north 
MacDermots,  princes  of  Moylurg.  East  of  the  Shannon  and  form- 
ing part  of  Brefney,  Leitrim  was  the  patrimony  of  the  O'Rourks, 
comprising  Dromanaine,  Mohilland  Carrigaleen  under  the  Reynolds, 
and  Rossclogher  under  the  MacClancys  of  Dartry,  with  MacFergus, 
Meechan,  MacGlom,  MacKenny,  O'Carrols  of  Calry,  Fords,  Mac- 
Gowan  of  Tullaghar,  MacGartlan,  MacKeon,  MacColreavy,  Shanly, 
MacTeigue  and  INIacDorchy  ftir  septs  well  known  but  not  equally 
powerful. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  51 

Mayo,  extending  east  to  Lough  Gara  and  south  to  Lough  Corrib, 
borders  for  a  long  distance  on  the  sea.  A  large  portion  of  its  terri- 
tory was  early  under  the  rule  of  O'Dowds  and  O'Malleys,  the  former 
furnishing  a  dynasty  of  princes  to  Tyrawly  and  Ennis,  the  latter 
to  Barrishole  and  Morrisk.  Below,  on  Lough  Mask,  were  domains 
of  the  O'Connor  kings  on  the  easterly  side  ;  the  country  of  the 
Joyces,  a  fine  race  of  men  originally  from  Wales,  tall  and  vigorous, 
on  the  west.  North  of  the  Lake  is  Curra,  where  Murrays  and 
Tiernays  were  chieftains  ;  and  on  the  east  Clanmorris,  of  which  the 
Burkes,  Mac  Williams  Oughtar,  in  later  days  earls  of  Mayo,  were 
principal  proprietors,  and  where  the  Prendergasts  had  possessions  ; 
farther  east  again,  Costello  of  the  MacCostellos  or  Nangles,  and 
north  of  the  Burkes,  Athleathan  of  the  Jordans  de  Exeter.  Fin- 
negans,  Gearans,  Connegans,  Callaghans,  Cahanys,  Rothlans, 
Ronans,  Bradys,  Blighs,  Quinns,  Lennons,  Milfords,  Mulroys, 
.  Mulrenins,  Mogahns,  MacHales,  Flynns,  Cummins,  Creans,  Tooles, 
DufFys,  Gradys,  MacDarells,  Dorchys,  Lavels,  Morans,  Larissseys, 
MacGowans,  Gormlys,  wdth  some  other  families  of  English  patro- 
nymics, such  as  Lawless,  Barret,  Cusack,  Petit,  Lynch  and  Brown, 
held  under  them  or  succeeded  to  their  possessions. 

Sligo,  on  the  north  shore,  embraced  Tireragh,  part  of  the  large 
possessions  of  the  O'Dowds,  Gallen  and  Leny  of  the  O'Haras, 
Cooltavin  of  the  O'Garas,  Corran  and  Tyrerrill  of  MacDonoghs, 
Carberry  of  O'Connors  Sligo,  and  under  them  were  Brogans,  Flan- 
ellys,  Colemans,  MacGeraghtys,  Morrisons,  Morrisseys,  Kernaghans, 
Howleys,  Laughnans,  Feenys,  McFirbis,  Morans,  Keevans,  Dur- 
kans,  Spillane  and  MacConways. 

The  seven  lower  baronies  of  Galway,  Longford,  Clare,  Dunkel- 
len,  Loughrea,  Kiltartan,  Athenry  and  Leitrim  were  early  appropri- 
ated by  the  MacWilliams  Fighter  or  Burkes  »f  Clanrickard, — 
whose  chief  abode  was  at  first  the  castle  of  Loughrea,  and  later 
that  of  Portumma.      They  held   no  exclusive  possession,  for  the 


52  TRANSFEEOFERIN. 

O'Sliaiignessys,  connected  Avitli  them  by  various  matrimonial  alli- 
ances, retained  portions  of  Kiltartan,  of  which  they  once  were  chief- 
tains, as  did  the  INIullalys  of  Longhrea,  the  Hallorans  of  Clare  or 
Clan  Fugail,  Donnellans  of  Clan  Brassail  in  Leitrim,  Maddens 
and  Hoolaghans  in  Longford,  Haverties,  Haynes  and  Connollys  in 
Athenry.  To  the  westward  toward  the  Atlantic  stretches  a  wilder- 
ness of  rock  and  bog  and  mountain,  with  wild  and  romantic  scenery, 
intermingled  with  patches  of  luxuriant  vegetation,  kept  fresh  from 
its  proximity  to  the  sea.  In  this  territory,  well  known  as  Conne- 
mara,  the  O'Flahertys  once  ruled  in  Ire  Connaught  and  the  Mac- 
Conrys  in  Moycullen.  Farther  north  and  east  was  Conmayne,  the 
Cross  of  Tuam,  the  seat  of  the  archbishops,  forming  part  of  Dun- 
more,  from  which  the  Birminghams,  barons  of  Athenry,  expelled 
the  O'Connors  and  O'Flahertys,  lords  of  Dunamore,  after  the  fall  of 
Edward  Bruce,  at  which  time  the  Flynns  were  lords  of  Cloinmoel- 
roin.  Tyaquin,  Kilconnel,  Clonmacnoon,  Killian,  Ballimoe,  form- 
ei  part  of  Maineech  or  Hy  Maine,  of  which  the  Kellys  of  the 
race  of  Heremon  were  princes,  one  of  whom  lord  of  Aughrim 
forfeited  his  possessions.  Cowleys,  MacHughs,  Duanes,  Lees,  Calla- 
nans,  Kirwans  were  other  families  of  Connemara.  Heynes,  princes 
of  Hy  Fiachra,  Sheehans,  Cullens,  Cahills,  Fahys,  MacTullys, 
MacNevins,  MacEgans,  Traceys,  Larkins,  Coffeys,  Doyles, 
Daleys,  Maginns,  Cashins,  Tourneys,  Degans,  Connollys,  Mulroo- 
neys  and  Mannings  Avere  also  names  much  multiplied  in  Galway. 

Though  a  large  part  of  the  four  millions  and  a  half  of  acres  in  the 
five  counties  are  not  very  fertile,  and  two-thirds  of  them  only  under 
any  cultivation,  the  population  before  the  famine  of  1849  and 
exodus  that  followed  exceeded  fifteen  hundred  thousand,  that  of  Mas- 
sachusetts to-day  on  the  same  area.  It  has  of  course  greatly  dimin- 
ished since  by  emigration.  The  traveller  attracted  into  the  country 
by  the  beauty  of  its  scenery  and  abundance  of  its  salmon,  will  observe 
in  the  various  races  traits   and  lineaments  which   afford  abundant 


TRANSFER      OFER  IN.  53 

evidence  of  their  different  origin.  Here  in  Mayo  Avere  once  preemi- 
nent the  Chan  Morna,  said  to  be  Damnonians  as  also  the  posterity  of 
Eadan  in  Koscommon  and  of  Enda  in  Sligo. 


XI. 

EUEGENIAXS    AND    DALCASSIANS    OF    MUNSTER. 

After  Mogha  Xuadat  or  Angus  (81),  King  of  Munster,  born  A.D. 
GO,  defeated  Con  of  the  hundred  battles,  they  divided  the  island  by 
a  line  from  Dublin  to  Galway,  Con  taking  Leath-Con  to  the  north, 
Mogha  Leath-Mogha  to  the  south.  Leinster  or  Ensellagh  remained 
subject  to  tribute  for  a  time  under  the  kings  of  Munster,  but  this 
settlement  Avas  of  short  duration.  When  Oliol  son  of  Mogha,  and 
son-in-law  of  Con  (82),  born  in  92,  came  to  die,  he  gave  Fiacha  son 
of  his  elder  son  Owen,  Waterford,  Cork,  Kerry  and  part  of  Tippe- 
rary  or  Desmond,  and  Cormac  Cas  his  son  next  in  seniority  surviving- 
Limerick  and  Clare  with  the  rest  of  Tipperary  and  part  of  Kinos 
county  or  Thomond,  providing  that  the  representative  of  each  line 
alternately  should  hold  supreme  sway  in  INIunster. 

It  may  prove  serviceable  to  the  reader  to  have  at  hand  the  respec- 
tive main  lines  of  the  Eoghanaght  and  Dalcassians,  from  the  time 
this  settlement  was  made  to  the  coming  of  Strongbow.  The  former 
consisted  of  :  (84)  Fiacha  Mullathan  b.  154  (85)  Oliol  Flanbeg 
b.  190  (8Q)  Daire  Cearb  and  Luaglmaid  b.  228  (87)  Core  b.  2G9 
(88)  Nadfraoch  b.  320  (89)  Angus  b.  346,  the  first  christian  king 
(90)  Felim  b.  386  (91)  Criomthan  b.  423  (92)  Hugh  Dubb  father 
of  (93)  Finghin  ancestor  of  the  O'Sullivans  and  of  (83)  Falvey  b. 
511  father  of  (94)  Colga  the  generous  chief  b.  555  (95)  Nadfraoch 
b.  597  (96)  Daolgiasa  b.  640  (97)  Doughaile  b.  682  (98)  Seach- 
nusa  b.  723  (99)  Artgaile  b.  764  (100)  Lachtna  b.  806  who  lived 


54  TRANS  FEROFERIN. 

in  the  reign  of  Cormac  son  of  Culenan  king  of  Munster,  who  com- 
piled the  Psalter  of  Cashel  (101)  Buadhachan  b.  848  (102)  Ceal- 
lachan  b.  88G,  who  conquered  the  Danes  (103)  Justin  b.  925  (104) 
Carthach  b.  969  (105)  Muireadach  (106)  Cormac  b.  1054,  who 
founded  Cormac's  chapel  at  Cashel,  and  (107)  DermodMorrna  Cille 
Baine,  king  of  Cork  and  Desmond,  b.  1008,  who  married  Pe- 
tronilla  de  Bleete,  an  English  lady  of  good  family,  and  who  made 
his  submission  to  Henry  the  second  and  was  slain  in  1185,  near  Cork, 
by  Theobald  Fitzwalter. 

The  main  lines  of  Cormac  Cas  who  married  the  sister  of  the  poet 
Oisin  MacCumhale  were  :  (84)  Mogh  Corb  b.  167  (85)  Fearcorb  b. 
198  (86)  Angus  b.  232,  the  peacemaker,  (87)  Luighaid  b.  286, 
who  dispossessed  the  Firbolgs  of  Clare  (88)  Conal  Eachluath  b. 
312  (89)  Cas  (90)  Blod  (91)  Carthin  who  had  a  son  Angus  pro- 
genitor of  the  Currys  Cormacans  and  Seasnans,  and  (92)  Eochy 
Balldearg,  baptized  by  St.  Patrick  (93)  Conal  (94)  Hugh  Coiheme, 
or  the  comely  king  of  Cashel  and  first  christian  king  of  the  family. 
His  son  Congal  was  ancestor  of  the  O'Neils  of  Clare  and  O'Noons  of 
Thomond ;  (95)  Catlial,  from  whose  son  Algenain  derive  the 
O'Mearas  (95)  Torlagh  b.  641  (96)  Mahon  b.  683  (97)  Core  (98) 
Lachtna  (101)  Lorean  (102)  Kennedy  (103)  Brian  Boru  born  at 
Knicora  926,  who  conquered  the  Danes  at  Clontarf  April  23,  1014, 
driving  them  out  of  the  island.  (104)  Donogh  was  succeeded  by  his 
nephew  (105)  Torlogh,  who  died  1086.    (106)  Murtough  d.  1119. 

(107)  Dermod,  whose  wife  was  Sarah  McCarthy  daughter  of  Thad- 
deus,  d.  1120.      (108)  Conor  d.  1142  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 

(108)  Torlogh  d.  1167.  (109)  Murtogh,  slain  by  O'Brien  whose 
eric  was  three  thousand  cows,  exacted  by  his  brother  and  successor 

(109)  Donal  King  of  Cashel  who  maiTied  Orlecam  daughter  of  Der- 
mod king  of  Leinster  by  a  daughter  of  O'More  of  Leix.  He  founded 
the  cathedral  church  at  Cashel  on  the  existing  site.  "When  Henry 
the  second   landed  he  tendered  his  submission,  but  in   1176,  after 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  55 

that  king  violated  at  Oxford  his  pledge  to  king  Roderick,  Donal  ex- 
pelled the  English  from  Limerick.     He  died  in  1134. 

The  rule  of  alternate  succession  between  the  Eoghanacht'  and 
Dalgais^  was  not  observed  with  equal  strictness  and  fidelity  as 
that  of  a  lilce  nature  adopted  by  the  northern  and  southern  Ily 
Nials  to  the  central  monarchy.  The  kings  of  the  southern  pro- 
vince, of  Casliel  as  commonly  called,  while  their  scat  of  govern- 
ment was  in  that  city,  were  more  frequently  selected  from  the 
former,  their  territories  being  nearer  at  hand.  Between  Conal  of 
the  Swift  Steeds  (87),  and  Lorcan  (101),  grandfather  of  Brian 
Boru,  Dalgais  furnished  few  kings  to  the  throne  of  Munster. 
They  sorely  felt  the  injustice  of  this  exclusion,  and  it  led  to  deso- 
lating wars.  When  Cormac  MacCuillenan,  king  and  bishop  of 
Cashel,  in  908,  was  preparing  for  an  expedition  against  Munster, 
which  ended  in  disaster,  he  reminded  the  assembled  princes  of  the 
law  of  Olioll  Olum,  and  named  Lorcan,  king  of  Thomond,  whom 
he  had  summoned  from  Kincora  as  his  successor.  But  his  wishes 
were  not  regarded,  and  though  the  two  lines  contended  for  the 
throne,  seventy  years  elapsed  before  Brian  Boru,  son  of  Kennedy, 
conquered  the  Eugenians  in  1078,  and  obtained  the  crown  of 
Munster  as  the  j)rize  of  victory. 

It  is  not  proposed  at  present  to   follow   either  line  later  down 

'  The  Eoghanachts,  or  Eugenian  Families,  are : — Mac  Carthy  Mor,  Mac  Carthy  Muskery, 
Mac  Carthy  Carrignavar,  Mac  Caithy  Aglish,  Mac  Cartliy  Cloghroe,  Mac  Carthy  Na-Mona! 
Mac  Carthys  Mac  Donogh,  Mac  Carthy  Mac  Donnell",  Mac  Carthy  Reagh,  Mac  Carthy 
Diina,  Mac  Carthy  Ballynoodic,  Mac  Caithy  Glas,  Keeffc,  Mac  Auliffe,  Donoghue  of 
Kerry,  Donogliiie  of  Ca^hcl,  Donoghue  of  Ossory,  Collins,  Conncll,  Daly,  Mahony,  Cal- 
laghan,  Callanan,  Moriarty,  Cullen,  Sullivan,  Mac  Gilliciukly,  Quill,  Hiordan,  Shea,  Lyon, 
Cronan,  Bnadhach,^,  Cahalan,  Maolins,  Flathniadh,  Flynn,  Conal,  Ceallaghan,  Donnell, 
Duilgin,  Hca,  Ceanduibh,  Mac  Trialladh,  Longadh,  Dubhachain,  Ncill,  Feichin,  Flanlaoi' 
Dudhain,  Leary,  Riun,  Donall,  Caonihloingfiidli,  Conall,  Cronnelly,  Dann,  Ailgnin,  Hooly^ 
Ccitin,  Meargan,  Aignach,  Canty,  Eoghan,  Agha,  Maothagan,Maolcrain,  Glamhin,  Berain, 
Loingseach,  Angal,  Finellj^,  Donovan,  Feely. 

^  The  Dalcassian  Families  are : — O'Brien,  M;ic  Lysaght,  Ailchc,  Ahern,  Mac  Namara 
Gunning,  Kennedy,  Meara,  Mac  Brody,  Mulcsihy,  M'Einery,  Liddy,  Lenaghan,  Lonergati 
M'Clanfhy,  M'Coghlan,  Mac  Curtin,  Grady,  Moron}-,  Molony,  Griffin,  Hanraghty,  Ilanra- 
han,  Hehir  or  Hare,  M'Innerney,  Ilartigan,  Plickey,  Hogan,  Hurley,  Lynch,  Casey 
Cudihy,  Conolly,  Cormacan,  Crotty,  Mac  Mahon,  Lanigan,  Kirwan,  Magrath,  Neill,  Dea^ 
Spelman,  Fogarty,  Sheehan,  Toomy,  Regan,  Kelleher,  Shanahan,  Hely,  M'Arthur,  Sex- 
ton, Reidy,  Slattery,  Kearney,  Noonan,  Quin,  Mac  Considine,  Scullj',  Curry,  Heffernan 
Cahill,  Hea,  Finnellan,  Glorau,  Toler,  Durcan,  Silk,  Mukhaoine,  Heavy,  Caisin,  Noon' 
Larkin,  Bowen,  Aingidy,  Maine,  Fiahcrty,  Conroy,  Heynes,  Hanity. 


56  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

than  the  invasion.  There  are  manifest  reasons  on  the  face  of  both 
as  we  derive  them  from  Cronelly,  and  from  the  interesting  history 
of  the  O'Briens  by  O'Donoghuc,  for  doubting  their  absohite  ac- 
curacy. The  intervals  in  the  many  instances  are  of  undue  length 
for  average  generations  ;  but  possibly  this  may  be  accounted .  for  by 
grandsons,  and  not  sons  succeeding.  From  the  similarity  of  names 
in  the  two  lists  at  about  the  same  date,  there  seems  also  ground 
for  suspicion  of  possible  confusion.  But  the  historical  incidents 
with  which  they  were  severally  connected  are  too  well  established 
for  any  very  important  error.  The  mode  of  numbering  the  genera- 
tions, though  suggesting  a  degree  of  credulity  far  below  the  ac- 
cepted standards  of  historical  scepticism,  in  beginning  at  the  cradle 
of  the  race,  is  that  common  to  all  works  of  Irish  genealogy,  and  is 
too  convenient  not  to  improve. 


XII. 

ANCIENT   FAMILIES    OF    MUNSTER. 

How  it  chances  that  the  Milesians  are  so  peculiarly  genealogical, 
may  possibly  be  accounted  for  from  their  having  retained,  down  to 
periods  comparatively  recent,  the  pati-iarchal  system  of  government, 
the  earliest  form  of  civil  polity.  With  their  property  and  indepen- 
dence constantly  menaced  by  strangers  ever  at  hand  to  take  advan- 
tage of  their  weakness,  their  family  ties  were  drawn  closer  for 
mutual  protection,  and  shut  out  from  other  pursuits,  their  shores 
and  larger  towns  in  hostile  occupation,  clansmen  went  little  from  home 
unless  on  military  service.  Their  laws  of  succession,  tenure  of  their 
lands,  hereditary  castes  and  military  organization,  all  demanded  an 
accurate  record  and  transmission  of  descent,  and  officials  specially 
qualified  and  trained  and  in  some  instances  hereditary  were  appoint- 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  57 

ed  and  set  apart  for  this  duty.  The  family  lore  thus  preserved  is 
an  important  help  for  the  elucidation  of  our  particular  subject,  and 
with  the  tribal  boundaries  baronial  and  county  lines  might  better 
perhaps  be  presented  on  map  or  in  tables.  Such  are  to  be  obtained, 
but  are  not  everywhere  accessible,  and  we  are  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  placing  here  what  information  of  this  description  our  readers  may 
require  to  bear  in  mind. 

Enumeration  of  names  and  places  may  prove  somewhat  irksome 
and  cannot  of  course  pretend  to  be  absolutely  exact  or  complete. 
Many  names  are  purposely  omitted,  as  simply  modifications  or  repe- 
titions, others  through  inadvertence,  but  if  we  succeed  in  imparting 
the  knowledge  of  which  we  have  ourselves  felt  sorely  the  need  in 
studying  the  history  of  Ireland,  our  end  will  be  attained.  Our  sub- 
ject is  the  social  and  political  condition  of  two  races,  differing  widely 
in  character  and  circumstance,  placed  side  by  side  for  centuries,  de- 
veloping in  their  mutual  relations  whatever  is  good  or  evil  in  human 
nature.  If  not  always  at  strife,  their  friendly  intercourse  was  often 
fraught  with  greater  peril  to  the  weaker  and  more  confiding  race  than 
when  engaged  in  actual  hostilities.  They  readily  combined  for  com- 
mon objects  of  ambition  or  resentment,  but  there  was  a  natural 
antagonism  engendering  jealousy  and  contention,  and  when  the 
immediate  objects  for  uniting  their  forces  were  effected  they  re- 
vived in  their  original  virulence.  In  this  long  struggle  the  chiefs  and 
clans  eventually  succumbed.  The  stranger,  with  a  powerful  na- 
tion of  larger  and  constantly  augmenting  resources  to  lend  aid 
when  needed,  rooted  himself  in  the  soil,  and  like  the  parasite  of  the 
tropics,  extended  his  deadly  embrace  over  his  less  fortunate  and  per- 
sistent neiorhbors,  absorbing  their  substance  and  gaining  vigor  from 
their  decline,  leaving,  as  time  proceeded,  his  victims  helpless.  This 
was  the  course  of  events  in  many  parts  of  the  island,  it  Avas  peculiar- 
ly so  in  Munster. 

The  northern  province  defended  by  bog  and  stream,  with  passes 


58  TRANSFER      OFEEIN. 

impervious  to  hostile  penetration,  under  ite  brave  and  sagacious 
rulers,  kept  its  gates  for  centuries  barred.  If  pressure  from  without 
aided  by  internal  dissension  ever  swept  in  its  tide  of  devastation,  it 
soon  ebbed,  not  again  for  long  intervals  to  return.  From  the  less 
homogeneous  character  of  its  people,  and  the  hold  the  De  Burghs 
early  gained  in  Galway,  the  west  if  defiant  of  English  authority 
was  more  under  the  influence  of  English  interests.  By  Irish  rules 
of  succession,  which  excluded  females,  Eighters  and  Oughters  had 
better  claim  than  INIortimer  or  Plantagenet  to  the  family  lands  of 
the  De  Burghs  in  Connaught,  but  if  feudal  law  were  to  govern 
where  it  had  never  been  accepted  and  could  not  be  enforced,  they 
were  intruders,  and  if  placed  at  disadvantage  might  be  compelled  to 
surrender.  This  led  them  to  form  for  their  security  frequent  alli- 
ances with  the  neighboring  princes,  and  furnishes  the  key  to  the 
policy  which  long  ruled  in  Connaught.  In  the  central  province  and 
south  toward  the  sea  and  St.  George's  Channel,  the  tenure  of  the 
representatives  of  Eva  was  constantly  disputed  and  generally  with 
success  by  the  sons  of  Heremon. 

The  southerly  shore  was  fringed  with  harbors,  open  to  a  maritime 
power  and  easily  defended  against  land  attack.  \\e  have  seen  how 
the  map  of  Munster  became  curiously  checkered  with  the  demesnes 
of  the  two  races,  intersj^erscd.  There  were  septs  of  other  stock 
than  Hebers,  English  lords  Avho  did  not  trace  to  Nesta,  but  not  many 
of  either  with  sufficient  extent  of  territory  or  influence  to  control 
events.  From  Waterford  to  Tralee,  from  Cashel  to  Derrynane, 
after  assimilation  in  speech  and  dress  had  broken  down  the  barriers 
which  kept  the  races  hostile  and  distinct,  it  was  not  so  much  two 
nationalities  that  were  contending  for  mastery,  as  Fitzmaurice  and 
Fitzgerald  against  Eugenian  and  Dalgais.  Even  these  distinctions 
were  constantly  losing  force  as  their  houses  became  knit  together  by 
bonds  of  consanguinity.  The  line  of  Kaymond  lords  of  Kerry,  now 
represented  by  the  Marquis  of  Lansdown  for  seven  hundred  years, 


TRANSFER     OF     EKIN.  59 

have  been  gaming  in  territory  and  influence.  Certainly  no  English 
blood  has  been  more  largely  tinctured  by  Milesian.  It  was  in  the 
eighteenth  century  before  a  baroness  of  Kerry  died  of  Saxon  or  pure 
English  stock.  The  first  lord  had  for  wife  Grace  Cavanagh,  grand- 
daughter of  the  noted  Dermod  McMorrogh,  King  of  Leinster,  father 
of  Eva,  the  second  Mary  iNIcElligot  of  Connaught,  the  third, 
fourth  and  eighteenth  princesses  of  Thomond,  the  seventh  Catherine 
McCarthy,  the  ninth  Maud  O'Connor,  the  tenth  Una  McMahon  ; 
the  sixth,  eighth  and  nineteenth  Fitzgeralds,  also  Avidely  connected 
through  Roches,  Barrys  and  de  Burghs  Avitli  both  bloods.  The 
wives  of  the  second,  ninth  and  eleventh  earls  of  Desmond  were 
O'Briens,  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  McCarthies,  the  fourteenth 
espoused  Mora  O'Carroll. 

Dermod  McCarthys  More  (107)  born  1098,  king  of  Desmond  at 
the  time  of  the  invasion,  had  for  his  wife  an  Englishwoman,  Petronilla 
de  Bleete.  His  great  grandson  Donal  (110)  b.  1204,  also  king, 
espoused  Margaret  daughter  of  the  third  Kerry  ;  Donal's  grandson, 
Cormac  (112)  born  1271,  Honoria  daughter  of  the  sixth.  In  the 
next  generation  Donal  (113)  b.  1303 — 1358  had  to  wife  Joanna, 
only  child  and  heiress  of  the  second  earl  of  Desmond,  and  four 
generations  later  the  wife  of  Cormac  (117)  b.  1440  was  Ellenor 
Fitzmaurice,  daughter  of  the  ninth  Kerry  by  jNIora  O'Connor.  Of 
the  children  of  Donal  an  Druim  in  (118)  b.  1481  Catherine  mar- 
ried Finghin  McCarthy  Reagh,  Honoria  James  fifteenth  earl  of 
Desmond,  Donal  (119)  b.  1518  created  earl  of  Clancarre  espoused 
Honoria  Fitzo-erald,  dauii-hter  of  his  brother-in-law.  The  house  of 
Kincora  early  selected  their  brides  from  O'Connors,  O'Moores, 
O'Cavanaghs,  O'Kennedys,  MacNamaras,  Fogarties  and  McCarthies, 
but  Torlogh  (116)  who  died  14G0,  his  sou  (117),  and  great  grand- 
son (119)  married  Burkes,  while  the  wives  of  Torlogh  (118), 
and  Conor  (121)  third,  earl,  were  daughters  of  Kerry.  Another 
wife  of  Conor  (119)   was  Alice  daughter  of  Desmond;    Donogh 


60  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

(120)  second  earl  of  Thomond  married  Helena  Butler,  daughter 
of  the  earl  of  Ormond,  and  Donogh  (122)  the  fourth  Amy  Roche 
and  Elizabeth  Fitzgerald,  dauo-hter  of  the  eleventh  earl  of  Kildare. 
The  Carberry  and  Muskery  branches  were  also  as  variously  and  in- 
timately allied  to  the  English  race. 

Their  sons  and  daughters  intermarried  in  each  successive  genera- 
tion, forming  a  curious  lace  work  of  both  races  more  or  less 
harmoniously  blended.  With  their  territory  coterminous  and  inter- 
mingled, their  abodes  not  far  apart,  with  constant  occasion  for  social 
intercourse  or  friendly  interchange,  the  marriage  banquet  or  funeral 
rite,  hostings,  the  chase,  festivals  of  the  church,  to  bring  them  into 
constant  companionship,  their  stability  and  security  depending  in  a 
great  measure  on  mutual  support,  the  religious  sense  extending  far 
and  wide,  culture,  refinement  and  civilization,  earls  of  Desmond  with 
their  subordinate  barons  and  knights  of  the  Valley,  Kerry  and 
Glyn,  white  and  black  and  five  hundred  established  branches, 
Roches,  Barry s,  Condons  and  Barrets,  the  twenty  powerful  houses 
derived  from  the  IVIcCarthy  More,  Dalcassian  chieftains  subordinate 
to  the  kings  of  Thomond,  O'Connors,  O'Sullivans,  Moriarties  and 
Donovans  held  a  singularly  complicated  sway  over  Munster. 

They  experienced  strange  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  not  the  least 
remarkable  what  we  shall  have  occasion  to  allude  to  later,  the  last 
representatives  of  both  earls  and  kings  of  Desmond,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century,  were  caged  in  the  tower  of  London. 
The  Queens  earl  in  1601  and  Sugan  or  earl  of  straw  in  1G08,  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  earls  of  Desmond  died  there,  and  Florence 
McCarthy  Reagh,  who  had  married  without  Queen  Elizabeth's  con- 
eent  Helena,  heiress  and  only  child  born  in  wedlock  of  Donal 
McCarthy  jSIore  earl  of  Clancare,  also  ended  his  days  after  forty 
years'  imprisonment  more  or  less  strict  in  London.  The  male  repre- 
sentative of  the  eighth  earl  of  Desmond,  beheaded  at  Drogheda  in 
1467,  ended  in  James  Desmond  descended  from  his  fifth  son  who  mar- 


TEANSFEKOFERIN.  61 

ried  an  O'Brien  and  was  living  in  1687.  The  lineal  representative  of 
the  McCarthy  ]Morc,  derives  from  an  offshoot  from  the  parent  stem 
in  the  fifteenth  century.  Of  the  McCarthy  Keagh  there  is  a  branch 
still  resitling  in  France.  Justin  of  Cork  represents  the  house  of 
Muskerry,  descended  from  Daniel  of  Carrignavar,  second  son  of  Sir 
Cormac  of  Blarney  castle,  and  the  line  of  Glenachroim  now  or  not 
long  since  was  represented  by  Charles  Duna  (124)  whose  principal 
abode  is  or  was  in  the  same  city. 

We  have  been  tempted  to  loiter  by  the  way  to  exhibit  some  of  the 
modes  by  which  the  two  races,  naturally  discordant  and  antagonistic, 
were  gradually  brought  together  and  assimilated  at  the  period  under 
revicAv.  The  same  process  was  going  on  throughout  the  province 
and  all  over  the  country,  more  of  course  among  chiefs  and  rulers 
and  principal  landholders  with  whom  intercourse  was  more  frequent, 
than  lower  in  the  social  scale  where  the  condition  kept  both  sexes 
at  home.  It  shows  how  difficult  if  not  impracticable  it  becomes  to 
expel  a  stranger  race  when  it  grows  dominant  and  domineering, 
of  what  doubtful  policy  it  may  often  prove  to  allow  it  to  gain  a 
foothold.  Historical  retributions  find  vent  fiir  apart  from  the  origi- 
nal wrong,  and  at  times  the  peace  and  order  of  America  have  been 
rudely  shaken  by  the  infusion  of  large  numbers  who  do  not  under- 
stand how  much  its  liberties  and  blessings  depend  for  their  preserva- 
tion upon  implicit  obedience  to  wise  laws  justly  and  honestly 
administered  ;  but  this  will  probably  correct  itself. 


62  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


XIII. 


THOMOND. 

Before    crossing    the    Shannon,    from    what    anciently    was    all 
Connaiight,    Clare,  originally  set  apart  with  that  province  for    the 
Firbolgs   and  other  races  the  Milesians  conquered,  but  which  was 
wrested    from    them    by     Luighaid,     one    of    the    progenitors    of 
Brian  Bom,  and,  at  the  request   of  his  descendant,  third    earl  of 
Thomond,  constituted  1G02  part  of  Munster,   spreads  out  its  area 
of  802,352  acres,  500,000  arable  land,  the  rest  waste  or  pasturage. 
Embraced    south    and    east    by    the    river,    its    westerly    bound 
extends    a    long   distance    by    the    sea   into    the   bay    of    Galway. 
Its  nine  baronies,   subdivisions  established  by  the  English  govern- 
ment under  Queen  Elizabeth,   and  substantially  the  same  in  their 
limits  as  those  previously  existing,  contained  in   1841  three   hun- 
dred   thousand    inhabitants,    double    its    present    population.       In 
Tulla,    its    most    easterly    barony    near    the    southeast    corner    of 
Lough  Derg,   once  stood  the  celebrated  palace    of  Kincora,    near 
the  pass   of  Killaloe,    where    the    Kings    of   Limerick,    when    the 
Danes  pressed  hard  upon  them  in  that  their  earlier  residence,  took 
up  their  abode.     Here  Brian  Boru  was   born   and  held  his   court 
as  king  of  Thomond,  Munster,  or  as  monarch  of  the  island ;  and 
there  also    dwelt    other   generations    of  his  line,    before    and    after 
him.       At  the  other  end  of  Lough  Dearg,   twenty-three   miles    to 
the  north,  was  the  castle  of  Portumna,   one  of  the  strongholds  of 
the  Burkes  of  Clanrickard,   Avith  which  family  the  O'Briens  were 
often  at  war,   and  as   often    in    amity.       The    shores    of  the    lake 
must    have    frequently    resounded    to    the    war    cries  of  the    chief- 
tains, often  returned  the  softer   echoes  of   harp  and   other  musical 
instruments  of  peace,    as    processions    passed    along   the    lake    for 
festive  entertainment    or    funereal    rite.       Kincora    was    frequently 
demolished  and  rebuilt,  and  only  abandoned  some  centuries   later, 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  63 

when  the  Kings  of  Thomond  possessed  more  convenient  resi- 
dences, and  more  central  as  their  hold  relaxed  on  Tipperary, 
in  Clonroad,  nearEnnis,  their  first  castle  constrncted  of  stone,  erected 
by  Donogh  Cairbrcach  about  1200,  Clareniore  near  Clare,  Moy 
in  Ibrickan  and  Bnnratty. 

The  castle  of  Bunratty,  erected  by  Thomas  De  Clare,  soon 
after  his  grant  from  Edward  the  First,  continued  the  abode  of 
that  family  during  its  troubled  possession  in  Clare.  After  the 
last  ftital  battle  of  Dysert  O'Dce  in  1318,  in  which  were  slain, 
his  son  and  grandson,  the  wife  of  his  son  Richard  gave  it  to  the 
flames,  and  the  family  left  the  country  never  again  to  return.  It 
has  since  stood  many  a  siege,  and  experienced  the  fortunes  of 
war ;  but  its  position  in  command  of  the  pass  of  the  river  Raite 
was  one  of  importance  to  defend,  and  after  each  fresh  disaster  it 
was  restored.  It  was  at  one  time  the  residence  of  General  Lud- 
low, the  favorite  general  of  Cromwell,  and  passed  away  from  the 
O'Briens  in  1712,  when  the  eighth  earl  of  Thomond  sold  it  to  a 
kinsman,  not  of  his  own  name,  who  conveyed  it  in  1728  to  the 
family  of  its  present  proprietor.  It  still  stands,  its  central  mass 
little  diminished  by  time,  though  long  since  abandoned  as  a  dwell- 
ing except  for  the  constabulary  force  which  occupies  its  lower 
apartments.  Round  about  buried  in  the  turf  are  lines  of  walls, 
formerly  part  of  out  buildings  enclosing  its  outer  wards,  or  form- 
ing part  of  its  defences.  What  remains  of  the  castle  consists 
of  a  large  square  tower,  about  one  hundred  feet  in  elevation, 
flanked  at  the  corners  by  four  of  smaller  dimensions  and  com- 
municating, containing  each  many  rooms.  The  main  structure 
is  chiefly  composed  of  four  or  five  large  halls,  the  length  of 
which  is  given  by  Thackeray  as  seventy  feet,  though  it  is  probably 
less,  the  roof  of  the  upper  one  now  being  reversed.  On  the 
walls  as  into  the  plaister  decorations  of  the  smaller  rooms  arc 
wrouo;ht  the   armorial    bearino-s    of   the    O'Briens.       At    one    end 


64  TRANSFEROFEKIN. 

between  the  towers  have  been  constructed  on  several  floors 
modern  aj)artments  of  the  fashion  of  Queen  Anne.  Not  draped 
with  ivy  or  environed  by  trees,  this  castle  stands  out  stern  and 
grim  against  the  sky,  and  from  the  solidity  of  its  structure  may 
well,  if  undisturbed,  remain  for  many  ages  an  interesting  historical 
relic  of  the  warlike  age  it  has  survived. 

Near  by  Kincora  in  Tulla,  once  extended  the  territory  of  the 
O'Gradys  of  Cincl  Donghaile,  supplying  many  dignitaries  to  the 
chm'ch,  contributing  many  works  of  value  to  the  national  annals. 
They  have  long  since  passed  from  their  ancient  prosperity  in 
Clare,  but  are  now  represented  by  the  O'Grady  of  Kilballyowen 
Castle,  in  the  barony  of  small  county  in  Limerick,  by  Carrol  of 
Shore  Park,  and  by  the  Viscounts  Guillamore,  connected  with 
the  Blennerhassets.  The  northern  portions  of  Tulla,  and  of  the 
adjacent  barony  of  Bunratty,  were  long  the  domain  of  the 
Macnamaras  of  the  Clan  Coilean,  or  Hy  Caisin,  one  of  whose 
chiefs,  Sioda,  in  1402  founded  the  abbey  of  Quin,  among  the 
largest  medieval  ecclesiastical  establishments,  and  the  ruins  of 
which  are  considered  the  finest  in  Ireland.  This  line  of  chieftains 
were  hereditary  marshals  of  Thomond,  and  its  several  branches, 
two  of  whom  are  honorably  represented  among  the  present  landed 
proprietors  of  Clare,  possessed  no  less  than  fifty-seven  castles. 
The  lower  part  of  Bunratty  was  called  Hy-bloid,  from  the  old 
name  of  the  O'Briens,  and  was  the  early  home  of  the  Shannons, 
Kennedys,  Creaghs  and  Kearneys,  and  near  by  were  Moloneys, 
Magraths,  Griffins  of  the  castles  of  Ballygriffy,  and  Moygowna  in 
Inchiquin.  The  Hehics  or  Hares  of  Hy  Cormac  possessed  Magh- 
adare  between  Tulla  and  Bunratty.  Inchiquin  or  Hy  Fermeic 
was  the  patrimony  of  the  O'Deas  and  O'Quins,  the  last  now  en- 
nobled as  earls  of  Dunraven,  of  Castle  Adare,  and  there  dwelt 
the  McBrodys,  still  celebrated  as  for  many  centuries  earlier  as 
poets  and  historians ;  Hogans,  bishops  of  Killaloe,  HefFernans  and 


T  R  A  N  S  F  E  R     OF     E  R  I  N  .  65 

O'Neils  of  Finlora.  In  Ibrickan  still  dwell  in  prosperity  the 
Moronys  and  INIac  Consedines,  derived  from  Consadan,  son  of 
Donogli  Cairbreach,  of  the  twelfth  century.  Kilfenora,  along  the 
bay  of  Galway,  was  the  inheritance  of  a  branch  of  Clan  liory, 
divided  in  the  eleventh  century  between  O'Connors  Core,  of 
Dough  Castle,  to  whom  was  assigned  the  southerly  half  or  Cor- 
cumroc ;  and  O'Loghlins,  lords  of  Burren,  the  northerly.  The 
latter  are  still  represented  amongst  the  present  landholders  in 
Clare;  but  the  lands  of  this  branch  of  the  O'Connor  name,  of 
which  Avere  the  O'Connors  Keny,  passed  under  Queen  Elizabeth 
through  O'Briens  and  Fitzgeralds  to  Gores,  Stackpoles  and  other 
English  families.  There  are  now  to  be  found  Mac  Lysaglits,  repre- 
sented by  the  lords  Lisle,  Cullenans,  Davorens,  Currans,  Liddys, 
and  Gormaus,  formerly  chiefs  of  Hy  Cormac.  In  the  southwest 
corner  of  Clare  are  the  Corkavaskins  iNIoj-arta  and  Clonderlaw, 
of  which  the  MacMahons  were  long  chieftains.  From  John,  born 
in  1715,  son  of  Patrick  and  Margaret  O'Sullivan  Beare,  who 
became  ]Marquis  d'Equilly  in  1763,  descends  Marshal  Mac^Iahon, 
duke  of  Magenta,  present  ruler  of  France.  This  house  of  Mac- 
Mahon  descends  from  Mortough  More,  king  of  Thomond,  who 
died  in  1110,  and  they  are  said  to  be  the  eldest  extant  branch 
of  the  O'Briens  in  representation  of  their  great  ancestor,  Brian 
Boru.  Sir  William,  late  Master  of  the  Rolls  in  Ireland,  and  his 
brother,  General  MacMahon,  are  of  this  race. 

Across  the  Shannon,  east  and  southwest  of  Clare,  Tipperary, 
with  its  million  of  acres,  four-fifths  under  cultivation,  has  at  pre- 
sent but  half  the  population  within  its  borders  before  the  famine  of 
1849.  Its  subdivision  into  eleven  baronies  corresponds  very  nearly 
to  the  ancient  chieftainries.  What  is  Lower  Ormond  was  long 
under  the  rule  of  the  Carrols  of  Ely,  from  whom  descended  the 
noble  race  distinguished  on  this  side  of  the  ocean, — Charles  of  Car- 
rolton,  being  one  of  the  signers  of  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
9 


66  TRANSFER     OFERIN. 

dcnce,  and  his  brother  the  venerable  archbishop  of  Bahimore,  the 
descendants  of  the  former  having  intermarried  with  Englishmen  of 
the  highest  rank  and  note  for  public  service.  Kennedys  were  also 
its  chiefs,  Breslins,  Qiiinlevans,  MacGilfoyles  and  Donnellys  had 
possessions,  and  there,  as  in  many  other  parts  of  this  kingdom  of 
Thomond,  McEgans  and  INIcClanchys  held  lands  as  brehons  or  here- 
ditary judges.  Upper  Ormond  was  also  the  territory  of  the  Ken- 
nedys, and  there  Sextons,  Gleesons,  Cullenans  and  O'Mearas  had 
their  abodes.  O'Meaghers,  of  whom  one  has  held  in  these  present 
days  an  honored  place  in  arms  and  literature,  were  lords  of  Ikerrin, 
Dermodys  being  their  neighbors. 

O'Fogartys  were  lords  of  Eliogarty,  now  represented  by  the 
Lanigans  of  Castle  Fogarty,  MacCormans,  Meehans,  Cahills  being 
the  names  most  multiplied.  This  country  early  vested  in  the 
Butlers,  and  near  Thurles  stands  one  of  the  most  interesting  eccle- 
siastical remains  in  the  island,  Holycross,  with  its  beautiful  win- 
dows, and  which  long  boasted  amongst  its  many  relics  a  fragment  of 
the  true  cross.  O'Deas  and  Corcorans  ruled  in  Slievardagh,  whilst 
to  the  southwest,  in  what  is  known  as  Middlethird,  was  Cashel,  with 
its  sacred  hill,  crowned  with  abbey  and  round  tower,  and  the 
chapel  of  Cormac,  the  last  of  beautiful  proportions  and  of  solid 
stone,  dating  back  to  before  Strongbow  came.  Near  by  are  the 
mouldering  walls  of  KnockgrafFon ,  abode  as  birthplace  of  eighteen 
of  the  Munster  kings,  and  which,  at  the  time  of  the  invasion,  was 
the  chief  seat  of  the  O'Sullivans,  eldest  branch  of  the  Eoghanatch  ; 
there  also  was  Hy  Rongally,  and  Shannahans,  Slatterys  and 
Kearneys  had  their  home.  In  IfFa  and  OfFa  resided  Keans  and 
Morrisseys,  and  there  is  the  present  abode  of  the  O'Callaghans  of 
Shanbally  Castle,  Viscounts  Lismore,  of  whom  the  first  created 
in  1806,  married  Eleanor,  daughter  of  the  seventeenth  Earl  of 
Ormond.  A  branch  of  the  Burkes  were  long  paramount  in  Clan- 
william,  whose  castle  of  Cappa   Uniac,   memorable  for  many  re- 


TE ANSFER     OF     ERIN .  67 

markable  incidents  in  their  histoiy,  stood  midway  between  Caliir 
and  Tipperary.  Among  their  more  powerful  neighbors  were 
O'Cuires,  lords  of  Muscry  Cuire,  Dwyers,  lords  of  Kilnemanagh, 
Ivclleliers,  Spillanes,  Dineeus  and  Lennahans.  Along  the  Shannon, 
in  Owuey  and  Arra,  reigned  the  once  powerful  house  of  Mac-I- 
brien  Arra,  derived  from  Brien  Roe,  whom  De  Clare  murdered. 
Of  this  territory  O'Ryans  and  Doncgans  were  previously  chieftains 
and  near  by  were  branches  of  the  Hogans,  Heffernans  and  Scullys. 
This  county  early  passed  under  the  sway  of  the  Butlers,  being 
created  their  special  palatimate,  and  although  its  former  chieftains 
retained  their  lands  and  rule  even  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century, 
sometimes  exacting  tribute,  and  sometimes  paying  it,  the  kings  of 
Thomond  relinquished  all  pretension  to  sovereignty  to  a  large 
part  of  it  not  long  after  the  invasion. 

JS^o  part  of  the  country  more  abounds  in  relics  of  the  past. 
Ruined  castles  and  shattered  fanes  everywhere  recall  the  days  of 
strife  and  persecution.  It  was  border-land  and  the  scene  of  many 
hard  fought  conflicts.  One  of  the  most  memorable  was  the  suc- 
cessful defence  of  Clonmel,  now  a  thriving  city  of  twenty  thousand 
inhabitants,  under  Owen  O'Neil,  against  Cromwell  in  1652.  The 
marvels  of  the  county  are  not  all  above  the  surface.  At  Mitchels- 
town  are  caves  of  great  beauty,  extending  nearly  a  thousand  feet 
into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  turned  no  doubt  to  good  account  in 
the  days  of  persecution  for  the  concealment  of  priest  or  rapparee 
from  the  myrmidons  of  the  law. 

South  of  the  Shannon  extends  the  fertile  region  of  Limerick,  of 
which  the  capital,  sixty  miles  from  the  Atlantic,  was  a  place  of 
strength  and  consequence  in  the  days  of  the  Danes.  It  was  subse- 
quently the  regal  abode  of  the  kings  and  often  beleaguered  and  now 
and  then  burnt.  Its  present  population  of  forty  thousand  souls 
appears  to  be  diminishing.  Its  lace  works  and  other  trades  are  on  the 
increase.     The  baronv  about  the  citv  is  another  Clanwilliam  where 


68  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

the    Burkes    of   Castledonnel    formerly    flourished.      East     of    the 
town  O'Briens  -sverc  chiefs  of  Owney  Beg,  and  west  another  branch 
derived  from  Conor,  second  son  of  kings  Mahon  Moinmoy,  and  who 
died  in   1426,  were  chieftains  down  to  the   sixteenth  century.      On 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  Kenny  were  the  possessions  of  the 
O'Douovans,  and  there  Clerkins  and  Hannerys  dwelt.    West  and  south 
was  the  broad  domain  of  Connelloe,  originally  of  the  O'Connells  lords 
of  Hy-Conal-Gaura,  a  branch  of  whom  are  still  prospering  in  Enneis 
as  also  at  Derrynane  and  Dunloh.     This  was  the  earliest  grant  to 
the   Fitzgeralds  in  Desmond.     Here  near  the  Shannon  is  Askeaton, 
one  of  their  principal  residences  and   burial  places,  and  remains   of 
their  grandeur  abound  in  and  around  it.       One  of  the  five  hundred 
offshoots  of  the  race  that  made  the   name  of  Geraldine  famous,  the 
Knights  of  Glynn,  held  tlie  northeast  corner  nearly  twenty  miles 
square,    and    Sheehys,  Hallinans,    Scanlans,   Kinealys,   Sheehans, 
CuUens,  MacEninys,  INIulcahys,  occupied   portions  of  the  territory. 
In  Coshma  and    Small   county  ruled  the  O'Gradys,   and   Sarsfields 
viscounts  of  Kilmallock  took  their  title  from  that  once  splendid  fortress 
and  abode  of  the  Desmonds.     The  O'Bi'ians  lords  of  Coonagh  deriv- 
ed from  Morrogh  of  the  Short  Shield,  grandson  of  Brian  Boru  and 
grandfather   of  Devorghal,   wife    of    Tiernan  O'Ruarc    of   Brefny, 
whose  family  quarrels  were  fraught  with  such  woe  to  her  country. 
Besides    the   septs  or  families   already  mentioned,  Hartigans,  Hon- 
ans,  Kerwicks,  Conlans,  Healys,  most  of  them  Dalcassians,  are  still 
to  be  found  in  different  localities.     The  Fitzgeralds  then  as  now  are 
numberless,  and  intermingled  with  them  are  the  families  of  the  under- 
takers, who  succeeded  with  Cromwell's  ironsides  and  palatines  from 
Germany  to  the  confiscated  lands  of  Desmond. 


TRANSFER      OFERIN.  69 


XIV. 

DESMOND. 

Whatever  forces  Avcre  at  work,  whether  of  attraction  or  repulsion, 
assimihitiug  or  setting  farther  apart  the  two  races  in  other  parts  of 
the  country,  their  process  and  effects  in  Munster  can  be  easily  fol- 
lowed. Quite  as  much  in  Kerry,  Cork,  Waterford,  and  those  parts 
of  Tipperary  which  constituted  the  kingdom  of  Desmond,  alternated 
between  peace  and  war,  much  after  the  fishion  of  nations  on  a 
grander  scale,  English  and  Irish  neighbors,  with  one  unvarying  and 
deplorable  result  for  the  latter.  The  land  and  political  power  which 
attends  its  ownership  gradually  drifted  away  to  the  former,  not  in 
consequence  of  any  superior  honesty,  prudence  or  other  deserving, 
but  that  the  English  crown  and  people  at  home  lent  them  help  and 
fought  their  battles. 

In  the  north  west  corner  of  county  Limerick,  in  Connelloe,  spread 
the  fertile  plains  of  the  knight  of  Glynn,  one  of  the  Fitzgeralds, 
extending  over  twenty  miles.  Further  to  the  Avest,  forming  the 
southerly  bank  of  the  Shannon  at  its  mouth,  and  sloping  down 
toward  Tralee  bay  and  the  Avaters  dedicated  to  St.  Brandon,  was 
what  in  early  days  formed  the  kingdom  of  Cran  (54)  son  of  Fergus, 
of  the  Clan  Rory  by  Maeva  the  celebrated  queen  of  Connaught. 
From  him  it  Avas  designated  Clareaigh  Luachaid,  the  former  name 
attaching  to  the  county.  Here,  for  nearly  forty  generations,  his 
posterity  had  ruled  and  dAvelt,  when  Dermod  King  of  Cork  or  Des- 
mond, as  lord  paramount,  gaA'C  the  southerly  portion  to  Ivaymond 
le  Gras  for  aid  in  reducing  his  son  Cormac,  opposed  to  English 
rule,  to  obedience.  Clanmaurice,  the  territory  thus  bestoAved,  has 
ever  since  belonged  to  Raymond's  lineal  descendants,  the  Fitzmaurices 
barons  and  earls  of  Kerry  and  noAv  marquises  of  Lansdown,  and 
some  of  the  means  have  already  been  suggested  in  their  intermar- 
riages Avhich  have   helped    them  to  keep  it.      The  upper  portion, 


70  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

known  as  Iraghticonnor,  from  Connor,  of  the  race  of  Ir,  continued 
in  the  line  of  tlie  O'Connor  Kerry,  down  to  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  their  matrimonial  alliances'  afford  some  clue  to  their  power 
and  importance  as  chieftains. 

Under  divided  sway  Fitzgeralds  knights  of  Kerry  held  land  and 
rule  in  the  territory,  which  with  what  belonged  to  the  O'Connors  was 
seized  under  the  protectorate.  Utterly  disloyal  to  his  sacred  obliga- 
tions to  the  families  who  had  made  such  sacrifices  for  his  own,  Charles 
the  second  granted  in  166G  Iraghticonnor  and  part  of  Clanmaurice 
to  Trinity  College.  The  O'Connors  had  various  castles  in  these 
fertile  domains,  earlier  Listowel  the  chief  abode  of  the  lords  of 
Kerry,  Ballybunion  Minegalan  Knocnacashel  and  Carrigasoil  were 
others.  The  last  mentioned  long  withstood  the  attack  of  the  protec- 
tor, and  when  at  last  surrendered,  his  soldiers  hung  up  its  defenders 
and  with  them  six  women  and  a  child. 

The  earls  of  Desmond  had  many  pleasanter  abodes  then  Tralee. 
Askeaton  on  the  Shannon,  Kilmallock  on  the  southerly  borders  of 
Limerick,  Imokilly  down  by  the  sea,  or  Strancally,  were  more  ele- 
gant and  cheerful  dwellings,  but  from  its  strength  and  ftivorable 
position  for  resistance  to  English  interference  or  native  resentment, 
this  fortress  throughout  their  troubled  sway  in  Desmond  was  the 
central  seat  both  of  their  military  power  and  civil  rule.  Marauders 
of  either  race  hardly  cared  to  venture  within  the  long  peninsula  of 
Corkaguiney  to  the  w^est  with  Tralee  commanding  its  gates,  and  there 
the  Gcraldine  lords  found  safe  retreat  for  their  flocks  and  herds,  their 
vessels  or  themselves  when  sorely  pressed.  There  were  other  septs 
and  chieftains    there,  Moriarties,  Fahies,  Doohns,   and   at  Dingle, 

'  Core  92  Imd  for  wife  an  O'Keefe  of  Diihallow.  Mahon  93  Johanna  Moriarty  of  Lough 
Lene.  Dcrmod  94  Mora  O'Donoghue.  Mahon  95  Mora  O'Mahony  daughter  of  the  lord 
of  Rathcullar.  Dormod  93  Johanna  Fitzmaurice  of  Kerry.  Conor  97  Winafred  MacMa- 
hon  of  Corcavaskin.  Conor  98  Margaret  Fitzgerald  daughter  of  John  of  Lorcan.  Connor 
99,  slain  in  1445,  Knathleen  de  Brunell.  John  100,  who  founded  Leslaghton  Abbey  in  1470, 
Margaret  Nagle.  Conor  101  Johanna  Fitzgerald,  d.  of  the  kTiight  of  the  Valley.  Conor 
102  Margaret  d.  of  the  lord  of  Kerry  and  Slany  of  O'Brien  of  Killaloe.  Conor  103  Honora 
d.  of  second  earl  of  Thomond.  John  104  Julia  d.  of  O'Sullivan  More.  Charles  105  Elise- 
beth  d.  of  the  19  Kcny,  widow  of  Thomas  Amory. 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN,  71 

sheltered  by  its  liills,  Husseys,  Trants  and  Ilubberts.  Ormond, 
after  hunting  down  the  last  great  Geraldine,  obtained  from  the  crown 
a  grant  of  this  tongue  of  land  of  magnificent  proportions,  but  not 
long  after  it  was  restored  to  the  knights  of  Kerry  who  for  many 
generations  liad  been  its  immediate  lords  under  the  earls.  Trughen- 
acmy,  the  barony  of  which  Tralee  was  the  capital,  was  partially  pos- 
sessed at  times  by  the  McEllygots  and  MacSheehys,  INIacSweenys, 
and  the  hereditary  brehous,  McEgan  and  MacClancy. 

Of  Kerry  below,  IMcCarthys  More,  whose  jDrincipal  residence  was 
at  Pallace,  were  lords  paramount.  Their  supremacy  was  there 
rarely  disputed,  and  their  lieges  contributed  a  chief  rent  to  their 
treasuries  and  contingents  to  their  array.  But  they  were  otherwise 
independent,  except  that  they  were  bound  to  entertain  their  chief 
and  his  followers  when  they  came  to  visit  them.  The  answer  in 
court  under  queen  Elizabeth  of  a  clansman  that  he  knew  no  kino- 
but  O'Sullivan  More,  cost  him  his  ears,  but  goes  to  show  that  neither 
to  the  English  crown,  nor  to  the  representative  of  tlicse  ancient 
kings,  existed  any  very  exacting  obligations.  Moriartys  were  early 
of  the  kings  Eoghanact  and  O'Douaghoes,  lords  of  Lough  Lene  and 
Ross  Castle.  0"Connals,  O'Xeils  and  Dalys  were  established  in  the 
barony  of  Masonihy,  which  passing  from  its  former  lords  later  be- 
came for  the  most  part  the  property  of  the  Brownes  earls  of  Kenmare. 
One  branch  of  the  O'Donaghoes,  that  of  Glenflesk,  more  fortunate 
longer  retained  their  twenty-one  ploughlands.  The  present  member 
of  parliament  from  Tralee  is  their  representative.  In  1556  Donal 
McCarthy  More  was  created  baron  of  Valentia  andearl  of  Clancarre. 

Under  due  subordination  to  their  lords  paramount  the  kings  of 
Desmond  the  O'Sullivans  ]More  formerly  of  Knoc  GrafFon,  actually 
the  senior  branch  of  the  Desmond  race,  being  derived  from  Finghin 
or  Florence,  elder  brother  of  Faihlbe  Flan  (93),  born  511,  the 
progenitor  of  the  ]MacCarthies — held  all  the  rest  of  the  county,  if 
we  except  Iveragh  of  the  O'Slieas  and  Mahonys  from  Dingle  Bay — 


72  TRANSFER     OFE  KIN. 

Branches  such  as  the  Mac  Gilhcudclys  of  the  Peaks  or  Tunacruacha, 
honored  and  prosperous,  and  the  jNlcFinnens,  secured  their  share  of 
the  family  territory,  but  throughout  Dunkerron  and  Glanerought 
they  were  immediate  if  not  absolute  lords,  holding  the  official  posi- 
tion of  hereditary  marshals  of  Desmond.  They  intermarried  with 
the  various  branches  of  McCarthies,  O'Briens  and  Geraldines, 
Donovans  and  O'Callaghaus.  They  lost  their  estates  in  defending 
them  from  spoliation  in  loyalty  to  the  house  of  Stuart  or  in  vindi- 
cation of  their  religious  liberties.  Their  representatives,  by  their 
military  services  to  the  united  realm,  the  second  baronet  was  killed 
at  Bayonne  in  1814,  and  by  their  civil  career  and  contributions  to 
literature,  have  done  credit  to  an  honored  name. 

In  Glanerought  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Kenmare  close  by  its 
shore  long  stood  the  castle  of  Ardea,  belonging  to  a  branch  of  the 
O'Sullivans  Beare,  for  so  were  designated  the  lords  of  Beare  and 
Bantry  whose  domains  extended  north  of  and  around  Bantry  Bay. 
If  rocky  and  mountainous,  upon  them  dwelt  in  the  days  of  their  pros- 
perity a  considerable  population,  and  in  the  sixteenth  century  five 
hundred  of  their  principal  followers  after  their  unsuccessful  struggle 
for  independence  were  included  in  the  general  amnesty.  All  the 
several  branches  of  the  name  were  intimately  connected  with  the 
other  leading  families  in  Munster  by  marriage  and  consanguinity, 
with  the  McCarthies  More,  Reagli  and  Muskerry,  O'Briens,  Dono- 
vans, Butlers  and  Geraldines.  Dermod  chief  of  the  Beare  family  was 
blown  up  in  his  castle  of  Dunboy  in  1549,  and  that  castle  in  the 
days  of  his  grandson  Donal,  afterwards  count  of  Bearehaven  in 
Spain,  stood  a  memorable  siege  for  several  weeks  against  a  force  of 
five  thousand  men  under  Sir  George  Carew.  The  defects  in  the 
system  of  government  peculiar  to  Ireland  and  the  efficacy  of  the 
English  policy  by  dividing  to  conquer  were  both  cui-iously  illustrated 
in  their  fall. 

Dermod,  to  whose  fate  we  have  alluded,  married  the  daughter  of 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  73 

McCarthy  Reagli  by  the  daughter  of  the  eighth  carl  of  Kildare. 
Upon  the  death  of  his  son  Donal,  whose  wife  was  Sarah  O'Brien  of 
Thomond,  Sir  Owen  second  son  of  Dermod  succeeded  as  tanist. 
His  wife  was  daughter  of  the  viscount  Buttavant ;  his  son's,  of  the 
fifteenth  earl  of  Desmond.  Other  descendants  of  Sir  Owen 
were  widely  connected  and  influential.  Unwilling  to  yield  up  the 
rule  and  estates  to  his  nephew  Donal  when  he  came  of  age,  he  sur- 
rendered them  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  as  INIorrough  O'Brien  had  Thom- 
ond to  her  father,  and  received  them  back  to  hold  by  English  tenure. 
Donal  petitioned  for  his  right ;  whereupon  Bantry  was  given  to  Sir 
Owen,  Ardea  to  Philip  Owen's  brother,  Bearehaven  to  Donal,  the 
rightful  heir  to  the  whole.  Indignant  at  this  injustice  and  the  evi- 
dent design  of  the  English  government  to  deprive  him  of  his  rights, 
and  his  country  of  its  liberties,  he  appealed  to  arms.  After  the  battle 
of  Kinsale,  which  ended  disastrously  for  the  septs  in  1602,  he  continued 
for  a  time  in  hostile  defiance  of  the  English  forces,  taking  possession 
of  his  castles,  but  after  a  hopeless  struggle  he  passed  with  his  wife  into 
Spain,  where  both  he  and  his  son  received  many  acts  of  kindness  from 
the  king,  but  he  was  assassinated  in  1618  by  John  Welsh.  After  the 
protectorate  ended  in  the  restoration,  a  portion  of  the  estates  were 
restored  to  the  then  O'Sullivan  Beare,  and  the  family  for  a  brief 
period  enjoyed  their  earlier  prosperity.  They  were  ardently  attached 
to  the  faith  of  their  fathers  and  naturally  took  part  in  1689  with 
James  the  Second.  For  this,  which  no  sophistry  could  construe  into  a 
crime  or  justification  for  sequestering  their  property,  they  were  de- 
prived of  nearly  all  that  remained  of  their  domains.  A  revenue  officer 
named  Puxley  obtained  possession  of  Bearehaven  and  the  castle  of 
Dunboy.  The  race  who  had  held  for  centuries  were  not  of  a  nature 
to  submit  tamely  to  injustice  ;  they  made  what  resistance  they  could, 
but  were  forced  to  yield  to  the  overwhelming  superiority  of  English 
power. 

All  the  westerly  portions  of  the  county   of  Cork  long  remained 
10 


74  TRANSFEROPEEIN. 

under  the  McCarthy  chieftains.  Near  Mizen  Head  the  Mahonys 
whose  several  branches  were  scattered  over  Desmond,  O'Driscolls 
of  Baltimore,  sons  of  Ith,  Donavans  of  Clancahill,  Ilorgans, 
Dugans,  Crowley s,  Kegans,  Hartigans  and  Fihilly  were  multiplied 
in  Corgha  Luic  br  east  and  west  Carberry,  but  this  large  territory 
between  the  sea  and  the  river  Lee  was  bestowed  by  Donal  McCarthy 
More  NaCurragh,  king  of  Desmond,  on  his  second  son  Donal  Gud 
with  the  castles  of  Dunmanway  and  Kilbrittain.  This  Dcmal  Gud 
(109)  the  first  McCarthy  Reagh  dethroned  the  O'Mahonys,  chiefs 
of  Ivaugh,  but  was  himself  slain  in  1251  by  John  Fitzgerald  of 
Callan.  His  grandson  Donal  the  handsome  (HI)  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  branches  of  Glenachroim  and  Duna  Glas,  and  his  grandson 
(113)  espoused  a  daughter  of  Kerry,  theirs  (115)  Catherine  daugh- 
ter of  the  eighth  Desmond,  and  their  son  (116)  Elinor,  daughter  of 
the  eif]jhth  Kildare.  The  marriage  of  their  orandson  Florence  to  the 
only  child  and  heiress  of  JNIcCarthy  More,  earl  of  Clancarre,  led 
to  his  forty  years'  imprisonment  and  forfeiture  of  a  large  part  of  her 
estates  and  his  own.  The  direct  line  of  Carberry  still  possessed,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  castles  of  Kilbrittain 
and  Dunmanway,  but  lost  them  under  the  protectorate,  recovering  an 
inconsiderable  part  of  their  lands  at  the  restoration.  Donogh  (121) 
purchased  Springhouse  in  Tipperary,  where  he  died  in  1713,  and  his 
frreat-ofrandson,  born  there  in  1 744,  died  in  1812.  The  son  of  the  latter 
married  and  dwelt  in  France,  where  his  son  Justin  was  born  in  1811. 
On  the  sea  near  the  east  of  Carberry  were  the  Barrys  Roe  and 
Oo-e,  De  Courcys  lords  of  Kinsale,  Mahonys  lords  of  Kinel- 
mealky,  Currys  of  Kerricurrihy,  a  Dalcassian  family.  Across  the 
cove  was  Imokilly  extending  to  Youglial,  and  farther  north  Hy 
Lehan  where  ruled  the  earls  of  Barry  more,  west  of  which  lay  the 
Barretts,  of  English  origin,  and  East  Lismore  and  Kenataloon  the 
former  possessions  of  the  earls  of  Desmond  and  now  of  the  Dukes 
of  Devonshire. 


T  R  A  N  SF  E  R      OF      E  R  I  N  .  75 

Between  the  Lee,  running  cast  before  it  changes  its  course  south 
to  the  city  of  Cork  and  the  Cove,  and  the  Blackwater,  which  form- 
ing the  easterly  bound  of  the  county  empties  its  waters  into  the  sea 
at  Youghal,  are  the  fertile  fields  of  Muskerry,  which  Cormac,  king 
of  Desmond,  wdiose  fiither-in-law  was  the  sixth  lord  of  Kerry,  be- 
stowed on  his  younger  son  Deinnod  (113),  1310— 13G7,  its  first 
lord.  His  great-grandson  (116),  1411-1494,  built  Blarney  castle, 
and  founded  the  monastery  of  Kilcrea,  and  his  great-grandson  Cor- 
mac (120),  1552-1G20,  described  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney  as  "the 
rarest  man  that  was  ever  born  among  the  Irishes  and  who  possessed 
of  many  handsome  castles  was  very  hospitable,"  was  father  of  Cormac 
Oge  (121) ,  1564-1G40.  Cormack,  whose  wife  was  Margaret  O'Brien 
daughter  of  the  fourth  earl  of  Thomond  and  who  was  ancestor  of  the 
earls  of  Kenmare  and  Kerry,  was  created  viscount  of  Muskerry, 
and  his  son  Donogh  1594-1666  who  married  Ellen  Butler,  sister  of 
the  first  duke  of  Ormond,  in  1558  earl  of  Clancarthy.  His  grand- 
son Donogh  was  unjustly  deprived  of  estates  worth  later  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  annually,  for  taking  part  with  the  Stuarts,  and 
Robert  the  fifth  earl  his  son  died  at  Boulogne  in  France,  in  1774, 
aged  94.  The  estates  forfeited  were  sold  to  the  Hollow  Sword 
Blade  Company,  Chief  Justice  Payne,  Dean  Davis  and  Sir  James 
Jeffries  and  others,  whose  descendants  still  hold  them. 

North  of  Muskerry,  extending  to  the  boundaries  of  county  Lime- 
rick, an  elder  branch  of  the  McCarthies  the  MacDonoghs  were 
long  chiefs  of  Duhallow.  They  descended  from  the  eldest  son  of 
Cormac  Fionn  McCarthy  More,  king  of  Desmond,  born  1170, 
who  was  also  the  progenitor  of  the  MacCartneys  viscounts  of  Antrim 
in  1776.  In  the  seventeenth  century,  the  lord  of  Duhallow  erected 
the  castle  of  Kanturk,  the  completion  of  which  was  arrested  by  the 
order  of  the  privy  council,  as  too  strong  for  a  subject.  With  much 
of  the  territory  the  castle  passed  through  the  earls  of  Egremont  to 
the  Wynhams,  lords  Leconfield.   The  O'Keefes  of  Donogh  castle,  mar- 


76  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

shals  of  Desmond,  chiefs  of  Glenavon  in  Fermoy,  Irebraeken  and  of 
Poble  O'Keefe  on  the  borders  of  Cork  and  Kerry,  were  long  power- 
ful in  Duhallow,  the  present  representative  of  the  name  being 
Manus  of  Mount  Keefe  New  Market  in  the  county  of  Cork.  One 
other  family,  the  McAulifFes,  chiefs  of  Clanawley,  had  possessions  in 
the  mountains  near  the  Limerick  line,  which  were  forfeited  by  the 
last  lord  in  1641  with  those  of  his  nephew  MacDonogh  lord  of  Kan- 
turk  and  Duhallow.  Noonan,  Dugan,  Herlihy,  Desmond,  were 
names  well  known  in  Duhallow. 

These  princij)alities,  Duhallow,  Muskerry  and  Carberry,  in  posses- 
sion of  the  three  most  powerful  feudatories  of  the  chief  of  Desmond, 
protected  the  southwesterly  portions  of  the  island  from  encroach- 
ment ;  while  along  their  easterly  bounds  Orrery  and  Kilmore  in  the 
hands  of  the  Barrys,  Fermoy  belonging  to  the  Roches  and  Clan- 
gibbon  to  the  white.  Knight  north  of  the  Blackwater,  the  Bar- 
retts, Barrymore  formerly  Hy  Lyhan,  Imokilly,  Kinnatalloon  and 
Kilmore,  the  domains  of  the  earls  of  Desmond,  which  passed  through 
the  Boyles  and  Cliffords,  to  the  Dukes  of  Devonshire,  protected  Cork 
from  any  hostile  approach  unless  in  considerable  force.  The  outer- 
wall  of  the  castle  of  Lismore  remains  with  the  interior  restored,  and 
at  Youghal  at  the  river's  mouth  Myrtle  Grove,  the  abode  of  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  to  whom  was  granted  tliis  property  when  for- 
feited by  the  earl  of  Desmond.  He  sold  it  to  Roger  first  earl  of 
Cork,  through  whose  son  it  passed  to  the  present  proprietor.  With 
so  much  of  the  picturesque  and  beautiful  everywhere  in  Ireland  it 
seems  out  of  our  special  theme  to  indulge  in  terms  of  admiration, 
but  the  cove  of  Cork  and  the  Blackwater  from  its  mouth  to  Lismore 
rank  high  in  beautiful  scenery,  in  graceful  hills  and  luxuriant  vegeta- 
tion, lawns  and  pleasure  grounds,  varied  by  stretches  of  water.  This 
great  county  divided  into  two  ridings  contains  an  area  of  nearly 
two  millions  of  acres,  with  a  population  of  about  seven  hundred 
thousand.     From  You2;hal  harbor  to  AVaterford  and  boundino;  cast 


TRANSFER      or      ERIN,  77 

on  the  Suir,  extends  the  county  of  Waterford  with  less  than  half 
a  million  of  acres,  about  three  to  every  one  of  its  inhabitants.  It 
was  for  the  most  part  early  held  under  the  kings  of  Desmond,  by  the 
O'Phelans,  but  was  too  accessible  to  English  power  to  be  re- 
tained by  them.  The  earls  of  Desmond  had  Coshmore  and  tlie 
Decies,  which  coming  to  them  from  the  Fitz  Anthonys  was  settled  by 
the  seventh  earl  on  his  second  son.  This  earl  had  been  by  royal 
permission  entrusted  for  his  training  to  the  prince  of  Thomond,  and 
when  he  superseded  his  nephew  for  marrying  Catherine  Cormac  he 
gave  Glenahiry  to  (114)  Turlogh  the  ancestor  of  a  branch  of  the 
O'Briens,  long  settled  in  Waterford.  There  were  numerous  settlers 
of  English  race  in  the  county,  but  the  family  most  honored  and 
prosperous  from  the  invasion  were  the  Poers,  earls  of  Tyrone,  now 
represented  by  the  marquesses  of  Waterford.  Mullanys,  Gearys, 
Flannagans,  Brics,  Magraths  and  Conrans,  if  not  extinct,  have 
greatly  fallen  away  from  their  earlier  prosperity,  and  the  names  asso- 
ciated with  wealth  and  influence  now  are  Lombards,  Talbots,  AVhites, 
Morrises,  Dal  tons,  Wyses,  Barrens,  Walls,  Sherlocks  and  Comer- 
fords,  with  others  of  English  race. 

Of  the  total  area  of  Munster,  6,067,722  acres,  5,915,561  are 
land,  and  152,161  water.  At  the  last  census  of  1871,  1,362,664 
were  under  tillage  ;  3,326,035  plantation  ;  108,752  waste  bog  ;  and 
mountain,  1,118,110.  There  were  inhabited  houses,  234,757  ;  un- 
inhabited, 7,183  ;  building,  474.  The  population  of  the  province 
in  1871  was  1,393,485  ;  in  1861,  1,513,588  ;  in  1841,  2,396,161. 
Of  Cork,  85,000  in  1851  ;  80,000  in  1861  ;  78,642  in  1871. 
Limerick  had  decreased  to  39,353 ;  Waterford  slightly  gained. 
The  constituency  of  Cork  consisted  of  4307  electors ;  Limerick, 
2193  ;  Waterford,  1404  ;  Kinsale,  179  ;  Mallow,  233  ;  Ennis,  225  ; 
Bandon,  253.  Of  the  different  religious  sects,  1,304,684  were  Catho- 
lics ;  74,213,  Protestant  Episcopalians  ;  4091,  Presbyterians  ;  4758, 
]\Icthodist ;  and  5729  of  other  beliefs.      62,039  persons  spoke  L-ish 


78  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

alone;  483,402,  Irish  and  English.  There  were  91,299  farmers ; 
126,013  farm  holdings;  4  over  two  thousand  acres,  2175  vmder 
five.  Between  1851  and  1871,  738,443  persons,  381,055  males 
and  356,788  females,  had  emigrated  from  Mmister ;  15,561  in  1870. 


XV. 

GOVERNMENT    AND    LAWS. 

"We  have  thus  endeavored  to  familiarize  our  readers  with  the 
names  of  the  tribes  and  septs  most  frequently  mentioned  in  histori- 
cal works,  with  the  several  ancestral  stems  from  which  they  derived 
their  origin,  places  where  they  dwelt,  and  family  ties  that  united 
them.  For  reasons  already  made  sufficiently  obvious  such  matters 
enter  more  largely  into  Irish  history  than  any  other,  and  without 
this  knoAvledge  it  cannot  be  understood.  It  has  been  also  our  aim 
to  individualize  so  far  as  we  were  able,  chief  or  noble  taking  active 
part  in  aifairs  military  or  political,  although  their  special  pre-emi- 
nence was  rather  proportionate  to  the  extent  of  their  territories  and 
number  of  their  adherents,  than  to  their  own  personal  character  or 
desert. 

It  remains,  before  resuming  our  narrative  of  events  leading  to  the 
exclusion  of  Irishmen  from  property  in  their  natal  soil,  to  allude 
briefly  to  the  light  shed  by  recent  publications  upon  the  government 
and  laws  of  Erin,  the  language  and  literature,  manners  and  customs 
of  its  people  from  early  ages  through  their  various  modifications  and 
changes  until  swept  away  or  forced  out  of  view  by  English  ascen- 
dancy. For  this  flood  of  illumination  upon  what  seemed  not  long 
ago  hopelessly  wrapt  in  obscurity,  we  are  indebted  to  the  life-long 
devotion  of  professor  Eugene  O'Curry,  who  through  the  judicious 
selection  of  Mr.  Newman  its  president,  was  called  to  the  historical 
cliair  of  the  catholic  universitv,  where  his  attainments  in  the  Gad- 


T  R  A  X  S  F  E  R      O  F      E  R  I  X  .  79 

Ihiilic  tongue  and  intimate  knowledge  of  its  literary  remains 
could  be  made  best  available  for  their  elucidation.  His  lectures  on 
the  manuscript  materials  of  Irish  history,  and  on  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  ancient  Irish,  delivered  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  were 
j)ublishcd  last  year  under  the  auspices  and  at  the  charge  of  the 
university.  The  second  series  has  been  edited  by  his  associate  pro- 
fessor, W.  R.  Sullivan,  who,  though  in  a  different  department  of 
learning,  has  proved  himself  a  proficient  in  this,  greatly  adding  to 
their  value  by  an  introductory  volume,  and  appendices  rich  with  the 
later  harvests  from  researches  still  pursued.  ^luch  we  are  told  may 
be  still  gleaned  from  the  materials  worked  by  these  zealous  explorers, 
and  as  the  field  cannot  be  exhausted  in  a  single  generation,  it  has  been 
wisely  decided  to  communicate  what  has  been  already  reduced  to  in- 
telligible form  and  not  to  withhold  it  till  the  work  is  complete.  The 
chief  sources  of  information  are  manuscripts  mouldering  or  fading, 
into  illegibility  on  vellum  or  more  perishable  paper,  widely  dispersed, 
and  shame  to  sa:y  not  all  accessible  even  to  scholars,  and  in  a  lan- 
guage passed  for  the  most  part  into  desuetude  and  diflBcult  of  inter- 
pretation for  w^ant  of  adequate  dictionaries  and  glosses.  More  than 
ever  of  late  attention  has  been  given  to  these  treasures,  which  like 
the  Italian  cities  preserved  under  ashes  and  lava  for  modern  instruc- 
tion, are  being  revealed  to  us,  fortunately  at  a  time  when  investiga- 
tion in  similar  fields  of  research  has  enabled  us  to  appreciate  their 
value  and  turn  them  to  account. 

What  has  already  been  imparted  to  the  world  in  these  lectures  and 
other  recent  publications  of  the  like  nature,  has  tended  less  to  satisfy 
than  whet  curiosity.  The  misapprehensions  and  errors  which  have 
grown  out  of  imperfect  information  create  an  eagerness  to  be  set 
right.  Criticism  has  become  especially  exacting,  and  the  learned 
men  entrusted  vrith  interpretation  of  these  ancient  oracles  have 
by  frequent  and  often  flagrant  mistakes  been  taught  to  proceed  with 
caution.     What  receives  their  sanction  resting  in  no   instance  on 


80  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

conjecture  or  assumption,  but  drawn  by  conscientious  and  competent 
scholars  from  reliable  and  original  sources,  may  justly  claim  implicit 
confidence.  Before  many  years  this  whole  mass  of  material,  trans- 
lated and  in  print,  will  no  doubt  be  given  to  the  public,  and,  after  its 
due  examination  and  study,  the  history  of  the  country  become  a 
possibility. 

Authentic  accounts  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  pages  of  scrip- 
ture and  ancient  historians  of  eastern  civilization  at  the  earliest  date 
assigned  to  the  colonization  of  the  island.  Offshoots  from  that 
Aryan  stock,  in  the  van  of  progressive  development,  carried  from 
Asia  around  the  borders  of  the  great  inland  'sea  to  beyond  the  pillars 
of  Hercules  and  possibly  to  this  western  hemisphere,  its  arts  and  in- 
ventions, language  and  laws,  and  their  nomad  habits  and  reputed 
maritime  facilities  and  enterprise  justify  the  belief,  that  whatever 
enlightenment  anywhere  existed,  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Phoenician  or 
Roman,  had  been,  if  not  extended  and  adopted,  at  least  heard  of 
and  more  or  less  dimly  reflected  in  the  remotest  confines  of  the  then 
known  world.  Neither  Nemidians,  Firbolgs  nor  Tuathade  Danaans 
were  savages.  They  belonged  to  this  highest  human  type,  and  in 
natural  endowment  and  intelligence  equalled  Jew  or  Greek.  If  their 
simplicity  of  life  and  polity  harmonized  with  their  pastoral  pursuits, 
they  for  mutual  defence  and  safety  were  gregarious,  and  wherever 
any  large  number  gathered  together  the  inherent  elements  of  their 
nature  implanted  by  providence  for  their  improvement  and  happiness 
rapidly  germinated  in  political  institutions,  education  and  refinement 
of  manners. 

No  reason  exists  for  believing  that  the  Milesian  colonies  who  found 
their  way  seven  centuries  before  the  christian  era,  or  possibly  earlier, 
from  Spain,  in  sufficient  force  to  overj)OAver  the  nations  then  in  pos- 
session of  the  land,  were  in  any  respect  their  inferiors.  Coming 
from  nearer  the  centres  of  existing  enlightenment,  the  reverse  would 
seem  more  probable.     All  that  has  been  related  of  the  Tuatha  dc 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  81 

Danaans,  their  dwellings,  arms,  usages  and  magical  incantations, 
indicate  a  people  well  advanced  in  the  modes  of  civilization  then 
prevailing,  and  among  them,  if  we  may  credit  tradition,  there  Avere 
many  sages  and  historians.  When  after  the  conquest  by  Eber  and 
Eremon  the  island  was  divided  between  them,  Ona  one  of  their  fol- 
lowers, a  proficient  on  the  harp,  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  former ;  to  the 
latter,  Cir  famous  in  song ;  while  Amergin,  one  of  the  brothers  that 
survived,  gained  celebrity  as  a  lawgiver.  OUamh  Fodhla  of  Clan 
Eory,  establishing  his  court  4463^  atTara,  appointed  governors  to  each 
cantred,  chiefs  to  each  village.  The  instructions  to  his  son  of  Moran, 
of  the  golden  collar  which  tightened  round  his  neck  if  he  made  judi- 
cial blunders,  or  according  to  Sullivan  choked  the  prisoner  if  guilty, 
are  still  extant  after  nearly  twenty  centuries. 

In  what  is  known  as  the  book  of  invasions,  compiled  by  O'Clery 
in  1G30  from  earlier  manuscripts,  it  is  stated  that  the  laws  brought 
over  by  the  ^Milesians  were  derived  from  the  Jews.  But  experience 
of  new  wants  led  constantly  to  modifications  adapted  to  their  differ- 
ent condition  and  circumstances.  From  time  to  time  these  laws 
were  revised,  old  and  new  consolidated  into  codes,  and  what  had 
been  repealed  or  fallen  into  desuetude,  if  they  left  no  historical  trace 
passed  out  of  mind.  When  St.  Patrick  under  the  monarch  King 
Leary  introduced  cliristlanity,  in  order  that  the  laws  might  better 
conform  to  its  precepts,  a  commission  consisting  of  three  kings,  the 
monarch,  Daire  king  of  Ulster  and  Core  of  Munster,  three  ollamhs, 
Dubhtach  of  history,  E.os  of  technical  law,  and  Fergus  of  poetry, 
vrith  three  bishops,  Benen,  Cairneck  and  the  saint  himself,  revised 
them.  They  reported  the  code  known  as  the  Seanchas  Mor,  which 
adopted  by  the  collected  kings  and  chief  rulers  at  Tara  remained  in 
force,  of  course  with  modifications,  from  403  for  a  thousand  years, 
and  as  late  in  Thomond  as  1600.      This  code  defined  and  punished 

'  The  chronolo.ir.y  adopted  by  O'Cnny  is  predicated  upon  tlic  following  intervals  or  eras : 
Adam  to  the  Deluge,  2242  years  ;  Deluge  to  Abraham,  942 ;  Abraham  to  David,  940  ;  David 
to  the  Captivity,  48-5;  Bondage  to  the  birth  of  Christ,  590  :  together,  5199.    Orosius  compu- 
ted from  Adam  to  Abraham,  3184;  Abraham  to  Christ,  2015,  with  same  aggregate. 
11 


82  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

crime,  regulated  contracts,  social  rank,  military  authority,  land 
tenures  and  domestic  relations,  made  provision  for  the  poor,  and  at 
the  instance  of  the  saint,  eriCs  or  compensation  for  life  were  substi- 
tuted for  the  less  merciful  rule  of  blood  for  blood,  tooth  for  tooth, 
laid  down  in  the  Mosaic  law,  and  of  which  trace  is  found  in  the 
earlier  laws  and  annals.  The  code  of  Justinian  was  established 
half  a  century  later ;  but  the  saint,  and  probably  many  priests 
and  laymen  of  Ireland  had  been  brought  in  Rome  or  Roman 
cities  to  the  knowledge  of  Roman  law,  and  it  is  not  surprising 
that  many  resemblances  should  be  discovered  between  its  provisions 
and  those  established  outside  the  imperial  limits  in  Erin  or  other 
lands. 

Besides  these  statutes  of  general  obligation  called  Fennachas  or 
Cain  laws,  there  were  others  of  local  or  limited  operation.  The 
several  subordinate  kino-doms  and  tribes  had  laws  and  customs 
of  their  own  for  their  special  government,  which  formed  part  of  the 
common  law  of  the  country  or  Urradas,  and  there  existed  besides 
certain  contracts  known  as  cairde  between  adjoining  territories. 
The  courts  corresponded  to  territorial  limits  or  distribution  of  power. 
The  airecht  fodeisin  or  king's  court  presided  over  by  the  chief 
ollamh  and  his  "  brethrem  no  dolbeir,"  airechtaeb  for  settling  dis- 
putes between  different  territories,  the  urnaide  or  common  pleas, 
and  foleith,  had  each  its  jurisdiction ;  and  above  all  was  the 
culairecht,  one  for  each  province  and  one  at  Tara,  courts  of 
appeal.  Four  grades  of  advocates  duly  qualified  for  fixed  fees, 
practised  under  rules  complicated  and  tending  to  the  furtherance  of 
justice,  their  process  and  proceeding  suggesting  their  having  been 
borrowed  from  the  English  or  from  an  origin  common  to  both.  Land- 
lords were  responsible  that  their  tenants  should  do  right  and  prose- 
cuted their  plaints,  and  in  evidence  much  weight  was  attached  to 
character.  After  the  central  ride  came  to  an  end  with  Roderick,  kings 
and  chiefs  maintained  their  several  tribunals,  but  their  decrees  were 


TRANSFER     OFERIN.  83 

less  respected  and  the  governing  po^ver  became  more  absolute  and 
arbitrary. 

Land  and  office  alike  followed  generally  established  rules  of 
succession.  Rigs  and  tanists,  ollamhs  and  brehons,  poets  and 
physicians,  even  cerds  or  smiths,  saers  or  carpenters  and  other  arti- 
sans held  their  employments  and  their  lands  by  inheritance,  and 
ceilles  bond  or  free  held  according  to  possession  or  descent,  paying 
in  kine  or  military  service.  The  ceille  bond  took  his  land  with 
stock  and  followed  his  lord  to  war,  the  ceile  free  found  his  own 
cattle.  Of  the  aire  or  freemen  the  bofeirech  feblisa  had  twenty-one 
cows  ;  the  bruigfer  who  seems  to  have  been  both  judge  and  publican, 
sixty- three.  The  fothla  became  noble  when  he  had  amassed  double 
the  fortune  required  for  the  lowest  order  of  nobility.  The  aire  coisring 
represented  his  community,  the  aire  fine  his  family,  in  responsibility 
to  the  laws,  the  king  or  his  liege  lord. 

Of  superior  rank  socially  and  politically  to  the  bo-aries  or  bothachs 
seven  orders  of  flaths  or  nobles  had  their  special  functions,  privileges 
and  obligations,  holding  their  deis  or  estates  free  from  rent,  but 
subject  to  the  tribal  laws,  and,  of  course,  to  military  service.  The 
lowest  degree  or  aire  desa  embraced  them  all,  and  they  were 
clothed  with  power  to  preserve  order,  and  three  together  authorized 
to  hear  complaints  at  custom  or  urradas  law,  and  act  as  magis- 
trates. The  term  aire  echtai  or  high-constable  of  a  tuath,  au'e- 
ard  with  manorial  court  and  clothed  with  authority  to  hear  in  the 
first  instance  informations  and  plaints  under  cain  or  statute  law, 
with  duties  as  steward  to  his  superior  lord  or  king ;  the 
aire-tuisi,  commander  of  the  levies  of  the  tuath,  and  the  aire 
forgail  or  chancellor,  with  supervision  of  the  rights  of  minors,  family 
disputes,  common  land  and  other  similar  responsibilities,  and  among 
them  that  of  presiding  over  the  court  of  the  chief  whether  king  or  other 
flath,  were  rather  titles  of  office  than  of  rank.  A  certain  number  of 
tenants  fixed  by  law  from  twelve  to  fifty,  of  cencleithe  or  personal 


84 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


retainers,  a  certain  following  of  personal  attendants,  dwellings  or 
lisses  of  prescribed  size  and  elegance,  steeds  with  green,  gold  or 
silver  bridles,  brooches  and  other  appointments,  were  the  required 
qualifications  or  insignia  of  each  degree  corresponding  to  their  re- 
spective consequence.  The  wife  of  a  flath  was  to  be  his  equal  in 
rank  and  a  maiden.  Such  rules  if  for  a  while  observed  would 
soon  very  naturally  fall  into  neglect,  and  probably  were  greatly 
modified  with  the  changing  condition  of  the  country.  Besides  these 
freemen  or  aires  bofeirech  and  flaths,  fuidirs  originally  strangers, 
captives  or  the  empoverished  were  tenants  at  sufferance  of  their  hold- 
ings, and  if  sometimes  acquiring  by  their  industry  or  other  worth 
property  and  consideration,  were  for  the  most  part  hewers  of  wood 
and  draAvers  of  water  to  the  rest,  at  the  mercy  of  the  lord  and  his 
dependents.  They  had  no  rights  known  to  the  law,  and  for  them 
as  for  his  other  tenants  the  flath  was  responsible  in  the  courts  and 
represented  them  in  their  claims  for  redress  when  aggrieved.  If  the 
power  of  the  flath  over  his  tenants  and  adherents  as  defined  by  law 
was  abused  by  him,  he  was  compelled  to  make  amends.  His  duties 
were  also  prescribed,  and  as  their  protector  in  peace  and  leader  in 
war,  the  relation  was  one  of  mutual  obligation  and  reciprocal  regard- 
Above  the  five  orders  of  flaths  we  have  mentioned  were  two 
more,  the  Rig  and  Tanaisi  Rig,  king  and  his  tanist.  The  office 
of  king,  whether  simply  of  a  single  tuath  of  which  there  were  one 
hundred  and  eighty-six,  rig  of  a  cluster  of  tuatlis  or  king  of  com- 
panies, a  rank  military  rather  than  territorial,  rig  rurech  or  bonad 
such  as  were  the  five  or  six  provincial  kings,  and  the  Ard  Rig  or 
monarch  of  the  island,  who  was  generally  if  not  always  one  of  them, 
was  essentially  hereditary,  and  although  of  limited  prerogative  was 
one  both  of  dignity  and  power.  Inter  arma  silent  leges,  and  when 
war  became  the  constant  occupation,  law  martial  or  military,  or 
arbitrary  mandates  of  the  chieftain,  took  place  of  the  well-ordered 
procedures  of  the  tribunals.      Still  frequent  instances  are  met  in  an- 


TRANSFEROFERIN.  85 

clout  annals  of  kings  relinquishing'  the  supreme  power  Avitliout  hesi- 
tation when  this  was  recjuired  by  law  from  his  loss  of  sight,  of  an  eye 
or  other  maim  or  hrfirmity,  disqualifying  for  royal  functions. 

The  regal  office  was  elective  as  well  as  hereditary.  The  freemen 
flaths  and  aires,  after  three  days  consideration  at  the  house  of  the 
bruigh  fer  or  at  some  other  central  place,  selected  from  amongst  the 
candidates,  but  always  out  of  the  family  or  fine  of  the  chief  and  out  of 
the  roydamnas  or  such  as  came  within  the  prescribed  degrees,  gene- 
rally the  nearest  in  blood  to  the  deceased  competent  to  ride.  In  most 
instances  the  son  or  brother  succeeded.  This  usage  or  law  of  election 
engendered  jealousies  and  led  to  bloodshed,  but  held  under  restraint 
despotic  tendencies.  When  elected,  the  chiefs  were  inaugurated  with 
form  and  ceremonial  in  special  places  consecrated  from  time  im- 
memorial for  this  purpose.  In  some  instances  the  tanaisi  or  success- 
or was  chosen  at  the  same  time  as  the  rig,  but  more  often  later  in  the 
reign  of  the  chief,  though  the  uncertainties  of  life  nmst  have  ren- 
dered it  judicious  to  have  him  defined  in  case  of  emergency. 
When  other  than  the  next  in  succession  assumed  the  government  as 
tanist,  it  Avas  not  simply  as  regent,  for  he  did  not  surrender  the  con- 
trol to  the  immediate  heir  when  of  age  or  disabilities  were  removed. 
His  deis  or  territory  was  often  that  appertaining  to  tanists,  besides 
Avliat  more  particularly  belonged  to  himself,  and  the  duns  or  castles 
of  Avliich  a  king  Avas  bound  to  have  three,  consisting  of  double  Avail 
of  masonry  and  moat,  Avere  occupied  by  him  as  king.  In  cases 
of  alternate  succession,  such  as  of  the  Eoghanacht  and  Dalcas, 
northern  and  southern  Ily-nials,  the  tanaisi  rig  Avas  naturally  often 
chosen  Avith  the  Kig  himself,  but  not  invarialjly.  Indeed  hoAvever 
specific  the  regulation,  practice  under  it  under Avent  constant  modi- 
fications and  Avas  at  no  period  or  place  very  uniform.  This  usage 
of  tanistry  Avas  not  confined  to  the  royal  power.  Even  among  the 
class  of  bo-aires,  tanaisis  at  times  took  charge  of  the  land  and 
represented    its   responsibilities,    furnishing   soldiers    to  the  army, 


8Q  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

and    performing    other   duties    requiring    mature    age    and   expe- 
rience. 

Besides  subsidies  from  his  flaths  and  stipends  from  his  superior 
lord,  fees,  booty,  waifs  and  escheats,  the  royal  revenues  consisted  of 
the  produce  of  his  own  demesne,  rents  of  his  daer  and  saer  ceiles, 
and  the  maidens'  marriaf>;e  rino-s  sometimes  wei2:hin2;  an  ounce  of 
gold.  Reciprocal  payments  were  notable  features  in  the  relation 
of  liege  and  lord  in  Ireland.  Each  paid  the  other  stipends  in  token  of 
their  mutual  obligatiojis.  A  king  was  not  permitted  to  engage  in  any 
derogatory  employment  or  go  about  unattended,  and  the  court  of 
the  more  wealthy  and  powerful  consisted  of  hostages  pledged  for  the 
fidelity  of  vassals,  and  of  numerous  officials  and  dignitaries,  Avho 
sat  at  his  table  and  took  part  in  his  amusements  and  counsels. 

In  the  Crith  Gablach,  an  ancient  law  tract  on  the  social  and  politi- 
cal relations  of  the  Irish  published  with  the  lectures,  there  is  little 
intimation  given  of  any  peculiar  clan  or  family  structure  in  the  social 
organization,  and  as  already  suggested  whatever  at  any  time  existed 
the  influx  of  strangers  and  other  causes  were  constantly  tending  to 
break  up.  In  early  days  the  inhabitants  Avere  of  many  races, 
and  though  under  Brian  Boru  each  tribe  or  nation  took  its  name 
from  its  cliieftain  or  one  from  whom  he  descended,  they  were  not  all 
of  his  blood.  In  course  of  time  by  intermarriages,  larger  numbers 
through  lines  paternal  or  maternal  might  derive  from  his  ancestral 
stem.  But  as  the  law  limited  the  succession  to  the  immediate 
family  of  the  deceased  chief,  and  only  recognized  as  belonging  to  it 
those  within  a  few  degrees,  the  tie  of  common  name  or  even  consan- 
guinity became  little  else  than  a  sentiment,  chiefly  operating  in 
inspiring  loyalty  and  devotion  in  the  field,  and  rendering  less  disa- 
greeable other  services.  In  some  parts  of  the  land  where  there 
was  little  intercourse  from  without,  the  clan  after  centuries  may  have 
been  not  only  of  one  name  but  essentially  of  the  same  stock. 

In  what  is  known  of  Tara  and  its  triennial  gatherings,  the  last  in 


TKANSFEROFERTN,  87 

554,  there  was  consultation  among  kings  and  chiefs,  and  even 
assemblages  duly  constituted,  perhaps  organized  by  law  for  delibera- 
tion. It  is  probable  that  these  gatherings  were  more  lilvc  Polish 
diets  for  ratifying  laws  than  framing  them,  the  principal  personages 
meeting  privately  together  for  that.  Cemeteries  of  kings,  heroes 
or  men  of  note  were  the  spots  selected  for  the  purpose.  Aileach 
with  its  remains  of  fort  and  palace  and  tomb  in  stone  masonry  in 
Donegal,  Carmen  in  "Wexford,  possibly  Cruachan  in  Rosscom- 
mon,  and  Tailtan  in  Armagh,  may  date  back  to  the  Tuatha  de 
Danaans.  The  former  in  an  old  poem  is  described  as  the  mound  of 
the  assemblies  of  noble  Erin  and  long  before  Ernania  was  a  royal 
dwelling.  "What  is  transmitted  of  the  arrangement  and  mode  of  con- 
struction of  these  abodes  of  the  kings  will  be  seen  later. 

This  sketch  of  the  government  and  laws  of  Ireland  in  remote  pe- 
riods, and  which  modified  by  time  and  cu-cumstancc,  continued  to 
prevail  in  some  parts  of  the  island  down  to  1605,  is  all  that  our 
limits  admit.  It  is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  political  condition  was 
far  removed  from  anarchy  or  despotism,  well  suited  for  the  further- 
ance of  justice  and  maintenance  of  right.  It  indicates  considerable 
progress  in  civilization,  love  of  order  and  appreciation  of  liberty. 
It  certainly  very  conclusively  proves  that  the  people  were  able  to 
govern  themselves  without  help  from  Norman  or  Saxon.  Under  this 
rule  they  drove  out  the  Danes,  and  if  they  had  been  equally  fortunate 
with  their  selfish  neighbors  from  across  the  channel  they  would  have 
made  as  rapid  strides  in  civilization  of  the  baser  sort,  in  luxuiy 
and  art,  as  other  nations.  When  the  brchon-law-commission  report, 
what  these  laws  in  reality  were  will  be  known.  ^Meanwhile  O'Curry 
and  Sullivan  are  safe  guides  to  what  has  been  divulged. 

If  we  may  depend  upon  what  they  tell  us  of  those  ancient  laws, 
and  both  laws  and  ballads  help  to  show  what  people  were,  no  evi- 
dence exists  to  warrant  the  reproach  that  the  Irish  were  either  more 
lawless  or  savage  than  their  neighbors.     Much  on  the  contrary  to 


88  TllANSFEROFERIN. 

show  that  they  Avere  sensible,  devout  and  loyal,  in  their  domestic  re- 
lations kind  conscientious  and  devoted.  Tlieir  social  and  political 
system  was  the  best  suited  to  foster  whatever  is  most  respectable  in 
human  nature  by  its  cumplications  of  reciprocal  duty  and  obligation. 
Constant  war  and  exposure  to  danger  and  weather  invigorated  their 
physical  powers,  rendering  them  industrious,  patient  of  labor  and 
fatigue,  engendering  noble  and  heroic  sentiment.  Many  nations  were 
less  favorably  placed  for  development  of  character,  few  would  have 
been  more  so  for  material  and  intellectual  progress,  had  they  been 
left  alone. 


XVI. 

LANGUAGE   AND   LITERATURE. 

That  the  speech  of  the  ancient  Irish  from  long  before  our  era  was 
essentially  that  of  the  Gaedlic  manuscripts  still  existing,  no  one 
pretends  to  dispute.  It  is  substantially  that  used  exclusively  by 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  island,  and 
by  one-sixth  of  the  population  who  also  speak  English.  Its  origin 
can  be  traced  to  the  Aryan  ancestors  of  the  successive  waves  of  colo- 
nization spreading  through  the  centuries  from  the  Indus  to  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  How  this  particular  branch  of  the  mother  tongue 
assumed  form  and  its  own  special  development,  is  not  now  to  be 
ascertained.  In  all  probability  it  remained  for  ages  a  spoken  lan- 
guage and  of  a  very  limited  vocabulary  before  it  was  reduced  to 
writing. 

The  manuscripts  preserved  are  in  Latin  characters  slightly 
altered,  and  O'Curry  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  Cuilmen,  Saltair 
of  Tara  and  Cin  drom  Schnecta,  the  earliest  known  Gaedlic  com- 
positions, were  originally  written  in  this  alphabet,  which  had  been 
introduced  into  Ireland  by  Druids  or  poets  who  had  travelled  into 


TRANSFER     OFERIN.  89 

Other  lands,  or  which  through  other  means  had  found  its  way  into  the 
country.  But  that  tliere  existed  besides  and  earlier  a  system  of 
writing  and  keeping  records,  quite  different  from  and  independent  of 
the- Greek  and  Latin  forms  and  characters,  which  gained  currency  in 
the  country  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity  in  the  first  part 
of  the  fifth  century,  if  not  known  a  considei'able  period  before  that 
era,  admits  of  as  little  doubt.  What  these  earlier  characters,  called 
ogham  or  oghuim,  actually  were  has  been  only  partially  ascertained. 
Their  knowledge  was  not  confined  to  druid  or  ollamh  ;  other  persons 
of  high  social  rank  were  initiated  into  the  mystery  which  attended 
their  use.  They  were  employed  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the 
dead  or  mark  their  sepulchres,  to  record  historical  events  and  even 
sustained  historical  or  romantic  tales,  long  before  the  Roman  letters 
were  used  and  probably  afterwards.  Bilingual  inscriptions  have 
been  discovered  in  both  Roman  and  ogham  characters, of  which  brief 
passages  are  found  in  the  manuscript  volumes.  Whether  the  ogham 
were  hieroglyphics  or  some  lost  alphabet,  they  have  not  been  suffi- 
ciently studied  for  much  more  than  conjecture,  and  have  proved  as 
yet  of  no  great  value  for  linguistic  investigation. 

Before  parchment,  bark  of  beech  or  other  trees,  probably  covered 
with  wax  like  the  Roman  tablets,  for  such  excavated  from  bogs  are 
in  the  academy  museum,  or  else  rods  or  staffs  stripped  of  bark  and 
notched  with  a  knife,  served  instead.  The  letters  or  feadha, 
Gaelic  for  woods,  of  the  ogham  alphabet,  which  was  sometimes 
styled  nin  from  its  term  for  the  letter  N,  were  possibly  named 
from  the  different  trees  of  the  forest,  or,  as  has  been  also  conjectured, 
the  names  of  the  trees  may  have  been  taken  from  them.  With 
such  writing  materials  and  the  embarrassment  attending  their  trans- 
portation and  safety  under  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  abbre- 
viations Avere  important,  and  this  may  have  affected  the  formation 
of  the  alphabet.  Donald  Mac  Firbis,  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
speaks  of  having  in  liis  possession,  when  he  wrote,  ancient  writing 
12 


90  TRANSFEROFEEIN. 

tablets  of  the  gael,  in  which  coukl  be  distinguished  some  hundred 
and  fifty  different  signs,  besides  others  which  were  used  on  the  rods 
alluded  to.  These  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  distinct  letters,  but 
combinations  or  adopted  forms  of  more  or  less  general  acceptance, 
equivalent  to  different  vocal  sounds  or  meanings,  possibly  of  the 
nature  of  mnemonics,  serving  to  aid  the  poet  in  his  recitations  or 
minstrel  in  his  song.  Staffs  or  tamhlorg,  opening  fanwise  and  cov- 
ered with  these  cabalistic  characters,  were  of  convenient  form  for 
travelling  from  dun  to  dun  as  was  then"  wont  for  use  in  the  festal 
hall.  By  comparison  of  what  is  still  extant  of  ogham  with  the  cor- 
responding equivalents  where  known  in  Latin,  much  yet  may  be 
gleaned.  Dr.  Graves,  Protestant  bishop  of  Limerick,  has  in  prepa- 
ration a  work  on  this  subject,  and  forming  part  of  it  will  be  a  transla- 
tion of  the  tract  on  ogham  in  the  book  of  Bally  mote. 

Gaelic  possesses  many  roots  in  common  with  the  Sanskrit  and 
other  branches  of  the  great  ftxmily  of  Indoaryan  language,  such  as 
Greek  and  Latin.  Lottner,  from  inscriptions  found  in  northern 
Italy  and  France,  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  ancient  Celtic  re- 
vealed forms  which  in  antiquity  yield  in  nothing  to  classic  Latin,  and 
that  these  languages  as  well  as  the  old  Germanic  were  as  highly  in- 
flected as  that  or  Greek.  Such  inflections,  clipped  or  worn  by 
long  use,  are  found  in  ancient  Gaedlic,  which  varies  in  grammatical 
structure  as  in  strict  adherence  to  rule  at  different  epochs  and  under 
different  conditions.  It  seems  probable  that  laj-ing  side  by  side  with 
classic  language  in  the  minds  of  scholars,  both  being  equally 
familiar  and  in  constant  use,  the  vernacular  may  have  gained  in 
regularity,  again  lost  when  and  where  employed  rather  for  speech 
than  for  literary  composition.  Dead  languages  embalmed  in  master- 
pieces generally  known  and  interpreted  by  grammar  and  dictionary, 
remain  fixed  and  constant  like  sculptured  forms ;  Avliile  those 
living  and  in  popular  use  continue  in  a  transition  state,  new  words 
and  phrases  being  constantly  adopted.     They  become  more  simple 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  91 

or  complex,  accordinp:  as  new  wants  are  experienced,  and  dhcro;- 
ing  into  dialects  often  wander  far  away  from  their  original  matrix, 
where  tribes  speaking  them  have  little  education  or  intercourse  with 
one  another,  and  no  common  standard. 

How  language  thus  improves  or  degenerates,  expands  or  diversifies, 
is  happily  expressed  by  Sullivan  in  the  introduction  to  the  lectures  : 
"like  the  life  from  which  it  emanates  its  decay  being  the  cradle  of  new 
growth.  Words  coalesce,  sounds  are  dropped  or  modified,  to  satisfy 
the  feeling  for  euphony  or  greater  ease  of  pronunciation,  the  same 
word  is  applied  to  express  distinct  ideas,  these  gradually  cease  to  be 
used  in  the  original  sense,  differences  of  physical  nature  produce 
corresponding  effects  upon  the  sounds  and  meaning  of  words,  nay 
even  the  idiosyncrasy  of  individuals  affects  their  language.  These 
changes  would  not  take  place  imiformly  over  a  large  area  ;  so  that  if 
a  country  of  considerable  extent  Avere  originally  occupied  by  the  same 
tribe  speaking  the  same  language,  in  process  of  time  dialects  would 
ari^e."  This  is  illustrated  by  the  different  words  and  phrases  coined 
or  borrowed  from  new  tongues  to  meet  new  needs,  not  only  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  island,  but  in  the  Scotch  Gaelic  originally  the  same 
as  the  Irish.  Not  Ions:  ao-o  neiohborinof  counties  in  Engl  and  differed 
greatly  in  their  speech  ;  and  from  Chaucer  to  Macaulay,  Froissart  to 
Thiers,  simplicity  in  orthography  and  elegance  of  expression  keep- 
ing pace  with  the  copiousness  required  by  expansion  of  knowledge, 
the  earlier  English  and  French  seem  to  us  now  almost  different  lan- 
guages from  the  modern. 

In  pagan  days  habits  of  life  were  not  propitious  to  scholarly  pur- 
suits. Druids,  ollamhs  and  files  and  even  princes  themselves  who 
visited  foreign  lands  attained  what  knowledge  was  to  be  had,  and 
according  to  tradition  diligently  improved  their  opportunities.  But 
the  cloister  offered  far  greater  facilities  for  learning  and  its  fruits. 
Copying  the  scriptures,  sacred  offices  and  lives  of  the  saints,  histori- 
cal accounts  of  other  times  and  lands,  record  of  passing  events  in 


92  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

their  own  as  its  importance  was  felt,  employed  their  leisure  and 
added  to  their  means.  Accomplished  scribes  became  as  accom- 
plished authors.  To  the  ten  centuries  succeeding  the  conversion  and 
before  the  invention  of  printing,  are  attributed  most  of  the  manu- 
scripts now  known  and  the  works  which  they  contain.  The  number 
of  conventual  establishments,  education  of  the  priesthood  at  Rome 
or  in  countries  deeply  imbued  with  Roman  civilization,  their  ac- 
quaintance with  the  great  productions  of  human  genius,  explains  the 
reputation  enjoyed  at  home  and  abroad  by  Irish  scholars.  Their 
intimate  relations  with  the  laity  under  their  spiritual  guidance,  ren- 
dered indispensable  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their  own  language, 
which  was  greatly  improved  from  their  attainments  in  others 
living  or  dead.  As  late  as  the  sixteenth  century  Gaedlic  was  the 
customary  speech  not  only  in  remote  places  or  amongst  the  septs, 
but  with  the  Anglo-Irish  whose  safety  in  a  measure  depended  upon 
assimilation  with  their  neighbors,  and  who  effacing  so  far  as  they  were 
able  every  distinction  of  race  not  only  spoke  the  language,  but 
cultivated  its  literature  and  were  diligent  collectors  of  its  books. 
This  demand  stimulated  production.  Each  convent  had  it3 
scriptorium,  many  of  them  not  merely  obtaining  copies  of  whatever 
elsewhere  existed  of  fiction  or  historical  lore,  but  keeping  up  such 
records  of  their  own.  In  the  volumes  preserved,  the  same  compo- 
sitions are  found  with  little  variation,  showing  to  what  extent  these 
interchanges  took  place.  As  hundreds  of  such  institutions  were 
scattered  over  the  land,  more  of  these  works  would  undoubtedly  have 
come  down  to  us,  but  for  the  Danish  and  Norman  devastations, 
wanton  destruction  attending  the  suppression  of  religious  houses 
at  the  reformation,  and  numbers  carried  away,  purposely  or  heedlessly 
destroyed  by  unscrupulous  despoilers,  ignorant  soldiers  and  their  nar- 
row minded  commanders,  or  as  a  solace  in  their  exile  by  priests 
in  the  subsequent  persecutions.  How  many  must  have  been  hope 
lessly  lost  in  the  vicissitudes  of  their  wandering  and  impoverished 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  93 

life,  or  Its  untimely  or  solitary  close,  can  never  be  known.  The  old 
book  of  Lismore,  discovered  in  1814  walled  up  in  an  old  door-way 
of  the  castle,  shows  to  what  shifts  they  often  had  recourse  for  their 
preservation. 

Notwithstanding  this  sad  havoc  of  ancient  writings,  which  from 
the  justly  reputed  learning  of  Irish  scholars,  and  opportunities  their 
education  abroad  afforded  them,  may  Avell  have  end) raced  priceless 
treasures  from  other  lands  and  times  now  lost,  an  extensive  literature 
remains.  ISlore  than  what  would  be  equivalent  to  three  score 
thousand  printed  pages  lays  in  manuscript  in  different  libraries  public 
and  pi'ivate.  Portions  have  from  time  to  time  been  translated  and 
printed,  but  far  more  remains  out  of  reach  in  an  unknown  tongue 
except  to  a  few  zealous  devotees  to  the  literary  antiquities  of  their 
country,  who  have  been  rarely  in  condition  from  their  other  pursuits  to 
turn  their  knowledge  to  account  for  the  public  benefit.  Indeed, 
though  the  time  is  approaching,  it  has  not  yet  arrived  for  reaping 
the  harvest  probably  ripening  for  other  generations,  and  the  present 
must  be  content  with  such  windfalls  as  vouchsafed. 

When  a  large  body  exists  of  thorough  masters  of  the  language  in 
all  its  forms  modern  and  archaic,  when  glosses  of  greater  perfection 
have  been  provided,  writings  faded  from  age  or  exposure  subjected 
to  strong  lights,  chemical  restorers  and  the  photograph,  all  or  the 
important  portions  brought  together  in  print  and  studied  by  many 
minds  of  various  culture,  their  true  value  will  be  known.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  parliament  will  appropriate  generously  to  this  sacred 
duty,  till  these  works  in  the  original  are  transcribed,  electrotyped , 
translated  and  multiplied  in  print,  and  supplied  to  every  public 
library.  Already  the  M'ork  has  been  commenced.  The  Senchas 
mor  and  other  legal  codes,  fragments  and  tracts  have  been  entrusted 
to  the  brehon  law  commission.  Nearly  eight  thousand  pages  have 
been  transcribed,  and  when  thoroughly  studied,  will  be  placed,  with 
faithful  versions  in  English  and  adequate  glosses  and  commentaries, 


94  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

in  tlic  hands  of  the  piibhc.  The  tale  of  the  "  White  Bull "  is  now 
iu  the  press,  and  the  "Leahbar-na-uidhre,"  one  of  the  oldest  volumes 
soon  to  be  mentioned,  was  published  during  the  past  year. 

The  manuscripts  consist  of  material,  historical,  genealogical, 
topographical  and  religious,  of  science  and  medicine,  law  and  poetry, 
historical  tales  and  romances,  fairy  legends,  and  other  flights  of 
fancy,  such  as  for  the  most  part  itinerant  minstrels  sang  or 
recited,  to  amuse  chiefs  and  their  retainers  in  the  banquet  hall,  in 
cloister  or  ladies'  bower.  These  wanderers  served  also  to  gather  up 
and' spread  the  news  in  the  place  of  modern  journals.  As  the  best 
known  works  are  in  many  copies  made  at  long  intervals,  modernized 
in  language  and  matter,  and  interpolated  with  additional  portions, 
much  that  is  incorrect,  lost  or  illegible,  can  only  be  amended,  restored 
or  made  clear  by  collation  with  other  copies  more  exact  and  perfect. 
These  writings  are  on  vellum  or  paper,  some  in  Latin,  some  in 
Gaelic,  in  many  instances  monographs  on  a  single  subject  in  the 
original  forms,  iu  others  compilations  and  collections  of  many  sepa- 
rate works. 

Many  of  the  larger  volumes,  thus  embracing  various  distinct  compo- 
sitions, consist  probably  of  what  once  constituted  the  library  of  a 
castle  or  convent.  We  can  only  hope  in  our  brief  allusion  to  the 
more  remarkable  of  them  to  direct  attention  to  the  interesting  lectures 
of  O'Curry,  that  visitors  to  the  institutions  that  possess  these  trea- 
sures, or  those  who  are  debarred  that  privilege,  may  better  under- 
stand what  they  are. 

The  supposed  oldest  manuscripts  are  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  : 
the  four  gospels  orDomhnach  Airgid  in  Latin,  given  by  St.  Patrick 
to  St.  Maccairthan,  and  the  Cathach  or  mutilated  copy  of  the  psalms 
of  St.  Columcille,  handed  down  for  thirteen  centuries  in  the  line  of 
the  O'Donnels.  The  same  institution,  a  perfect  treasure  house  of 
lay  relics,  gold  and  silver,  arms  and  ornaments,  instruments  of  music 
and  implements  of  toil,  possesses  vast  numbers  of  shrines,  crosiers, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  95 

bells  and  rings,  spoils  of  the  clmrch.  Trinity  College  Library  owns 
an  illustrated  copy  of  the  gospels  of  the  seventh  century,  called 
Diomas  book ;  another  of  St.  Molaisc,  the  INIiosach  in  the  college 
of  Columba  near  Dublin  ;  several  private  collections,  and  especially 
the  Stowe  formed  and  catalogued  by  Dr.  Charles  O'Connor,  grandson 
of  the  distinguished  antirpiarlan,  now  belonging  mostly  to  Lord  Ash- 
burnham  who  permits  no  one  to  see  them,  and  numbers  besides  of 
both  books  and  relics  are  of  inestimable  value. 

Of  the  sLs  hundred  volumes  of  manuscripts  in  the  Dul)lin  col- 
lections of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  and  Trinity  College,  the  latter 
possesses  one  hundred  and  forty.  The  oldest  belonging  to  the  former 
is  the  "  Leahbar-na-H.-uidhre,"  only  partially  preserved  with  one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  pages,  written  by  Maelmura  of  Clonmacnois 
in  the  eleventh  century.  It  contains  a  fragment  of  Nennius  trans- 
lated into  Gaelic,  an  elegy  on  St.  Colum,  Mesca  ulcdh  or  the 
burning  of  Tamhlar  Luachra  in  Kerry  by  the  men  of  Ulster 
cattle  spoils  or  marauds,  poems  by  Flanu  of  Monastcrbois.  This, 
as  already  mentioned,  has  been  printed.  The  book  of  Leinster, 
T.  C.  L.,  compiled  for  Dermod  MacMorrogh  in  the  twelfth  century, 
comprises  some  of  the  above  writings,  besides,  amongst  much  else 
of  historical  value,  relations  of  battles  of  Ross-na-Righ,  Cennabrat, 
Magh  ]Machrumbi,  of  the  Boromean  tribute,  poems  on  Tara,  and 
the  Dinnsenchas,  a  topographical  tract  of  A.D.  550,  in  all  about 
equivalent  to  two  thousand  pages.  The  book  of  Ballymote,  com- 
piled about*  1393,  begins  with  the  Gabhala  or  book  of  invasions. 
It  contains  many  relations  historical  or  imaginative  of  Conor  Mac 
Kessa  king  of  Leister,  Cormac  Mac  Art,  Crimthan  Mor  and  Xial 
of  the  nine  hostages,  translation  of  Nennius,  grammar  and  proso- 
dy, tract  on  ogham,  history  of  the  O'Driscols,  the  Dinnsenchas, 
history  of  the  Argonauts,  the  Trojan  war  and  of  Eneas  afterwards, 
the  whole  erpiivalent  to  twenty-five  hundred  pages.  The  Leabhar 
Breac  or  speckled  book,  R.  T.  A.,  with  one  exception   consists   of 


96  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

translations  Into  Gaedhlic  of  a  religious  character,  about  equiva- 
lent to  two  thousand  pages  in  print.  The  yellow  book  of  Lecain 
T.  C.  D.,  equivalent  to  two  thousand  printed  pages,  written  by  Mac 
Donogh  and  Gilla  Mac  Firbis  in  the  year  1390,  like  the  other  col- 
lections comprises  many  historical  relations,  poems  and  tales. 
Bound  up  with  it,  but  forming  originally  no  part  of  it,  are  family 
poems,  of  Kellys  and  Conors  of  Connacht  and  of  the  O'Donnells. 
It  contains  accounts  of  kings  and  battles,  poems  on  Tara,  the  great 
cattle  spoil  or  raid  for  the  white  steer,  Maelduin's  nautical  adventures, 
legends  relating  to  Conor  Mac  Nessa,  Curoi  MacDaire,  Labhraidh 
Loinseach,  Nial  of  the  nine  hostage  and  his  poet  Torna.  The  book 
of  Lecain,  equal  to  twenty-four  hundred  printed  pages,  1416,  by  Gilla 
and  Isa  MacFirbis,  resembles  in  its  contents  the  book  of  Ballymote. 
There  are  eight  other  volumes  in  the  college  library,  amounting  to 
eight  thousand  printed  pages,  most  of  them  without  special  name,  of 
which  the  contents  are  varied  and  interesting.  Its  paper  manuscripts 
are  extensive,  valuable,  and  embrace  much  not  found  anywhere  else. 

The  Academy  besides  its  vellum  has  many  hundreds  of  paper 
manuscript  volumes.  It  has  an  excellent  copy  of  the  book  of  Lis- 
more,  of  which  the  contents  are  peculiarly  interesting  and  varied, 
lives  of  saints,  incidents  in  ecclesiastical  history,  battles  and  sieges, 
translations  into  Gaedhlic  of  the  history  of  Charlemagne,  of  the 
Lombards,  travels  of  Marco  Polo,  showing  the  acquaintance  of 
priest  and  chief  with  ancient  and  modern  history.  The  last  piece  is  a 
dialogue  of  two  old  men,  Caoilte  son  of  Ronan  and  Ossian  son  of 
Finn,  with  St.  Patrick,  especially  instructive  from  its  local  allusions. 
The  Gaedhlic  treasures  of  these  two  libraries  are  not  to  be  valued  by 
their  extent,  but  there  are  in  both  together  six  hundred  paper  vol- 
umes, equal  to  thirty  thousand  printed  pages. 

The  gencaloo-ies  in  these  collections  are  extensive,  as  some  of  those 
in  the  book  of  Leinster  date  from  1130;  but  the  most  frequently 
quoted  are  those  of  Duald  Mac  Firbis,  1650,  in  which  is  found  the 


TEANSFEROFEEIN,  97 

often  quoted  distinction  between  the  three  races,  Firbolgs,  Tuatha 
de  Danaans  and  Milesians.  "  The  Litter  wliite  of  skin,  brown  of 
hair,  bold,  honorable,  daring,  prosperous,  bountiful  in  the  bestowal 
of  property,  wealth  and  rings,  not  afraid  of  battle  or  combat. 
Every  one  fair-haired,  vengeful,  large,  and  every  plunderer,  musical 
person,  professor  of  musical  and  entertaining  performances,  adepts 
in  Druidical  and  magical  arts,  are  descendants  of  the  second.  But 
"whoever  was  black-haired,  a  tattler,  guileful,  tale-telling,  noisy,  con- 
temptible, wary,  wretched,  mean,  strolling,  unsteady,  hai'sh,  and 
inhospitable  person,  every  slave,  every  mean  thief,  every  churl,  who 
loves  not  to  listen  to  music  and  entertainment,  disturbers  of  every 
council  and  every  assembly,  and  the  promoters  of  discord  among 
people,  were  descendants  of  the  Firbolgs."  This  of  course  was  preju- 
dice, and  if  such  distinctions  once  existed,  they  have  long  since  been 
effaced  by  amalgamation  of  the  different  races.  If  we  may  judge 
from  their  loyalty  to  country  and  church,  generous  sacrifices  for  pa- 
rents and  kinsfolk,  comparatively  few  offences  on  the  criminal  calen- 
dar of  the  courts,  their  readiness  to  embrace  the  great  reform  of 
Father  Matthew  and  their  tln-ift  and  industry  where  they  have  had 
equal  chance  with  other  men,  this  amalgamation  has  worked  favora- 
bly in  the  development  of  national  character. 

Of  the  annalists,  after  Cormac  MacArd,  by  whom  was  compiled 
the  saltair  of  Tara,  Mac  Amalagaith  of  the  Dinn  Senchas,  Cennfalath 
and  Angus  Ceille,  and  later  Maelmura,  Cormac  Mac  Cviilanan  king 
and  bishop  of  Cashel  and  author  of  its  saltair  in  the  ninth,  Mac 
Lonan,  O'Flinn  and  O'Hartiganin  the  eleventh  century,  O'Lochain, 
O'Seasnan,  Flann  of  the  Synchonisms  and  Gilla  Caemlain  who  trans- 
lated Nennius  into  Gaedlic,  the  first  in  celebrity  is  Tigernac  of  the 
Murray  race  of  Connacht,  abbot  of  Clonmacnois  and  Roscommon  and 
who  died  in  1085.  His  learning  was  varied  and  extensive,  and  his 
annals  commencino:  with  the  foundation  of  Rome  cover  the  centuries 
to  his  ow^n  time  in  excellent  Latin.  Seven  old  copies  exist  of  his 
13 


98  TKANSrEROFERIN. 

work,  some  mutilated  and  one  of  them  continued  down  by  other 
hands- for  the  four  subsequent  centuries.  The  annals  of  the  mon- 
astery of  Inisfail  on  the  island  of  that  name  in  the  lake  of  Killarney, 
were  commenced  in  the  tenth  century,  and  are  generally  attributed 
to  O'Carrol,  prince  of  Loch  Lene,  who  died  1009.  It  was  continu- 
ed to  1215,  the  most  perfect  transcriptions  being  found  in  the  Bodle- 
ian and  Ashburnham  collections.  In  the  former  are  preserved  the 
annals  of  Boyle  from  Noah  to  1251,  and  of  Ulster  by  Maguire 
about  1500,  of  Kilronan  or  Lochce  1014 — 1592,  of  Conacht,  once 
from  911,  now  from  1224  to  1562,  and  the  Chronicon  Scotorum  by 
Dualth  MacFirbis,  who  compiled  the  pedigrees  of  Irish  and  Anglo- 
Norman  families  and  who  was  murdered  in  1 670.  He  was  descended 
from  Isa,  who  prepared  the  book  of  Lecain,  and  his  chiefs  were 
hereditary  poets  to  the  O'Dowds  of  Tyreril  in  Sligo.  The  Chronicon 
appears  to  have  been  written  for  Sir  James  Ware  who  knew  no 
Gaedlic,  and  extends  from  the  earliest  historical  ei^och  to  1135.  The 
only  version  of  the  annals  of  Clonmacnois  known  to  be  extant  is 
an  English  translation  made  in  1627.  It  professes  to  be  a  history  of 
the  island  from  the  creation  to  the  English  invasion.  The  principal 
compilation  from  these  various  books  and  others  now  lost  is  that  known 
as  the  Four  Masters,  prepared  by  Michael  O'Clery  born  in  1580,  and 
Peregrin  and  Conaine  O'Clery  of  Donegal,  Ferfeasa  O'Mulconry 
of  Roscommon,  and  Duigenan  of  Leitrim  1632-1636,  at  Donegal. 
The  succession  of  kings  and  saints  and  the  Leabhar  Gabla,  or 
history  of  the  early  invasions  by  the  same,  and  a  valuable  glossary  of 
ancient  words,  date  at  this  same  period  ;  almost  the  latest  when 
many  of  their  materials  could  have  been  had.  These  were  destroyed 
in  large  numbers  by  Cromwell  and  his  ironsides,  and  other  vandals, 
or  lost  in  the  confusion  attending  the  banishment  into  Connaught  and 
later  or  earlier  confiscations. 

The  Boromean   tribute   the  monarch  Tuathal  exacted  of  Eochaid 
king  of  Leinster,  in   the  second  century,  for  marrying  his  daughter 


TliANSFEROFERIN.  99 

Fitlui-  in  the  life  time  of  her  sister  Daraine  whom  he  had  previously 
taken  to  wife,  become  tired  of,  and  imprisoned.  Abolished  in  G80,  it 
was  I'evived  in  the  eleventh  centiuy,  giving  name  to  Brian  Boru. 
This  tribute  and  the  wars  of  the  Danes  and  of  Thomond  are 
subjects  of  separate  works.  The  book  of  Munster  chiefly  relates 
to  the  sons  of  Heber,  but  contains  much  also  of  general  interest, 
more  particularly  connected  Avith  that  kingdom.  It  was  a  sensible 
arrangement,  that  of  old  Erin,  for  learning  its  history,  that 
the  ollamhs  whose  qualifications  demanded  twelve  years  of  arduous 
preparation,  had  imposed  upon  them  this  charge.  They  were  re- 
quired to  be  able  to  relate  three  hundred  and  fifty  tales  in  prose  or 
verse.  Probably  many  of  these  were  chanted,  whoever  were  mu- 
sical being  proficient  in  lullabies,  pathetic  and  comic  strains.  About 
equal  to  four  thousand  printed  pages  remain  classed  as  destructions  and 
preyings,  courtships,  battles,  sieges  and  slaughters,  caves,  naviga- 
tions, tragedies  or  deaths,  expeditions,  elopements  and  conflagrations, 
eruptions,  visions,  loves,  hostings,  and  migrations,  all  shedding  light 
on  life  and  manners,  and  believed  mainly  to  be  truthful  accounts  of 
the  incidents  related.  Among  the  most  curious  is  the  account  of  the 
visit  of  St.  Brendan  to  the  American  continent. 

Besides  the  above  much  fairy  lore  exists  and  many  imaginative  tales 
and  poems.  Of  the  latter  known  as  Fenian  several  are  attributed  to 
Oisin  and  Fergus,  sons  of  Finn  Cummhal.  These  tales,  and  among 
them  the  Tain  Bo  Chuailgne  or  raid  for  the  white  steer  and  wars  of 
Cuchulain,  are  considered  by  Rev.  Charles  O'Connor  to  be  of  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  the  historical  facts  derived  from 
Tigernac  and  the  saltair  of  Cashel,  but  his  grandfather  Charles  of 
Balenagar  and  O'Curry  ascribe  to  them  an  earlier  origin.  Whether 
taken  directly  from  Irish  sources  or  indirectly  as  current  in  the  high- 
lands, ]\IacPherson  out  of  them  unquestionably  constructed  his 
poems.  The  landscape  and  weather  and  other  natural  illustrations 
are  taken  from  Scotland,  but  Oisin  son  of  Finn  the  gaal  or  Fingal 


100  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

son  of  Cumhall,  Cuthullin,  Temora,  Thorna  and  nearly  all  his  per- 
sons and  places  are  unmistakably  Irish.  Were  we  better  acquainted 
"vvitli  the  originals  and  the  Gaedlic  itself,  could  go  back  into  the  spirit 
of  the  language  and  the  times,  we  might  find  that  not  only  in  rhythm 
but  in  poetic  expression  there  was  greater  similarity.  AVhat  we  have 
of  Irish  poetry  ancient  and  modern,  dirges,  lamentations,  impassion- 
ed or  emotional,  displays  a  degree  of  feeling,  elevated  expression, 
and  a  sensitiveness  to  natural  beauty,  surpassed  by  few  other  nations. 
What  distinguished  their  poetry  as  well  as  national  traits  from  the 
Scotch  is  not  difference  of  race  but  of  climate,  soil,  and  political 
condition.  The  Fenian  tales  are  of  various  sorts,  but  whether  in 
prose  or  verse  they  are  not  rhapsodies  and  rarely  abound  in  pathos. 
The  Ossianic  poems  on  the  contrary  are  wild  and  often  plaintive ; 
steeped  in  the  genius  of  Scotland,  of  a  people  who  believed  in  second 
sight,  and  whose  natural  gaiety  was  subdued  by  the  sombre  charac- 
ter of  its  scenery.  Their  gloomy  grandeur  is  at  times  suggestive  of 
the  masterpieces  of  Salvator  Rosa,  and  their  majestic  movement  has 
even  recalled  the  inapproachable  sublimity  of  the  inspired  prophet 
of  Israel. 

It  seems  sad  to  think  that  these  remarkable  compositions,  which 
Dr.  Blair  and  other  competent  critics  rate  high  for  their  sublimity 
and  beauty,  should  have  lost  hold  on  popular  favor.  Literary  taste 
is  morbidly  sensitive  where  any  attempt  is  made  to  deceive.  As  with 
Chatterton,  the  poet's  fame  has  been  tarnished,  not  for  having  arro- 
gated too  much  to  his  own  genius,  but  less  than  was  justly  its  due. 
It  ought  not  to  be  considered  surprising  that  poems  or  legends  founded 
on  Irish  incidents  and  characters,  should  have  been  transmitted  orally 
or  in  wi-iting  to  a  kindred  race  speaking  nearly  the  same  lan- 
guage, of  similar  modes  of  life  and  habits  of  thought,  not  remote, 
and  for  centuries  in  constant  and  intimate  intercourse  with  the  peo- 
ple amongst  whom  they  originated.  Many  might  well  have  been 
preserved  there  which   had    perished  at  home.     But   MacPherson 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIX.  101 

never  produced  any  manuscript  such  as  he  professed  to  have  studied 
for  twelve  years,  nor  revealed  any  source  from  which  he  could  have 
procured  them.  His  characters  and  incidents  are  drawn  from  the 
Irish  tales,  but  are  not  like  them  in  structure  or  tone.  The  ground- 
work is  borrowed,  but  the  poems  owe  their  principal  charm  to  poetic 
fervor  and  fancy  Avierd  and  mournful,  peculiarly  his  own  or  his 
country's.  Their  tender  sentiment  and  simple  illustration  from  nat- 
ural objects  and  phenomena  derive  their  inspiration  from  Scotland 
and  from  the  Scandinavian  sagas,  and  are  much  more  in  unison  with 
their  staid  and  solemn  character,  than  with  the  cheerful  sprightliness 
of  the  Irish. 

Prophecies  not  always  deceptions  or  delusions,  but  simply  one 
mode  of  describing  historical  events,  abound  among  these  remains. 
They  are  some  of  them  evidently  very  ancient.  How  far  file  or 
druid  improvised  is  not  known,  but  before  an  excited  gathering  wrought 
upon  by  grief  or  resentment,  poetic  fervor  might  well  assume  tliis 
form,  and  the  love  of  the  marvellous  was  as  fervent  among  tlie  Irish  as 
the  Scotch.  The  scriptures  afforded  example  and  sanction  for  pro- 
phetic declaration,  and  for  an  imaginative  people  amidst  perils  and 
calamity  with  all  their  heroic  passions  on  the  strain,  eloquence  could 
assume  no  more  effective  form.  That  which  Barry  mentions  in  1200, 
foreshadowing  turmoil  and  war  and  distant  and  eventual  subjugation 
which  the  subsequent  history  for  several  centuries  seemed  to  verify, 
might  well  affect  the  faith  of  the  credulous.  But  De  Courcy's 
from  the  same  source,  that  a  knight  on  a  white  horse  and  bird  on 
his  shield  would  conquer  the  land,  betrays  its  inspiration. 

Besides  the  manuscripts  in  Dublin  there  exist  long  lists  of  them 
in  the  British  Museum,  sixteen  precious  volumes  in  the  Bodleian  at 
Oxford,  a  few  in  the  Advocates  at  Edinburgh,  Burgimdian  at  Brus- 
sells,  and  in  the  Franciscan  at  Louvain,  most  of  the  latter  dispersed  at 
the  revolution,  twenty  at  least  being  now  or  lately  in  St.  Isidora 
at  Rome.     Very  many  are  in  private  collections,  the  most  import- 


102  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

ant  formerly  at  Stowe,  which  Lord  Ashburnham  withholds  from 
Irish  scholars.  They  are  possibly  in  the  main  transcriptions 
from  those  already  mentioned,  but  probably  not  one  in  competent 
hands  would  fail  to  afford  new  light  on  the  history  and  antiquities  of 
the  island  and  valuable  additions  to  its  known  literary  treasures. 

What  have  perished,  many  even  within  comparatively  recent  pe- 
riods, is  apparent  from  the  numbers  mentioned  as  existing  in  their 
time  by  Tigernac,  the  several  Mac  Firbises,  Keating,  O'Curry  and 
other  authors.  The  Cuilmen,  saltair  of  Tara  of  the  second  centuiy, 
that  of  Cashel  of  the  eighth,  Cin  of  Drom  snechta  of  the  fourth  by 
Ernin  son  of  Diiach  king  of  Connaught,  books  of  St.  Mochta, 
Cuana,  Dubhdaleithe,  Slane,  O'Flanagan,  Inis-an-Duin  Monas- 
terboise,  Dungiven,  Downpatrick,  Derry,  Saul  in  Down,  Cavan ;  of 
Saint  Molaga,  Saint  Moling,  MacMurragh,  Armagh,  Mac  Aegan, 
Leithlin,  Clonmacnois,  Dromseat ;  of  Clonsost  in  Leix  ;  of  Glenda- 
loch,  of  Bally  Mulconroy  1543,  Bally  Clery  1500,  O'Duinegans,  of 
Sligo,  Loch  Ree,  Loch  Erne,  are  all  gone.  The  saltair  of  Tara  was 
lost  before  the  thirteenth  century,  but  a  copy  of  that  of  Cashel  was 
known  to  have  been  in  existence  little  more  than  a  century  ago. 

These  sketches  might  be  indefinitely  extended,  but  we  must  bring 
them  to  a  close.  That  what  constitutes  the  excellence  of  our  English 
literature,  proceeds  from  the  component  elements  of  character  de- 
rived from  its  Celtic  stock  as  much  as  from  its  Saxon  or  Norman,  is 
ably  illustrated  by  Matthew  Arnold.  In  his  work  on  the  study  of 
Celtic  literature  published  in  1867,  the  substance  of  four  lectures 
delivered  by  him  as  professor  of  poetry  at  Oxford,  he  attributed  to 
their  derivation  from  the  ancient  Britton  of  Celtic  race  the  quick 
instincts,  poetic  sensibility,  wit  and  sprightliness,  that  with  more 
solid  qualities  are  characteristic  of  the  higher  type  of  Englishmen. 
Their  poetic  style,  rhyme  and  rhetorical  forms,  he  traces  back  to  the 
same  source  as  well  as  that  play  of  imagination  which  he  terms 
natural  magic.     He  ascribes  to  the  like  inspiration,  much  of  the 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  103 

tenderness  which  pervades  some  of  the  most  remarkable  productions 
of  their  poetic  genius,  therein  of  sadness  or  mehmcholy  constituting 
so  marked  a  trait  of  the  Ossianic  poems.  He  places  as  high  an  esti- 
mate on  the  vinpublished  manuscripts  we  have  been  considering  as 
O'Curry  himself,  and  advocates  the  founding  at  Oxford  of  a  profes- 
sorship of  Celtic. 

We  should  still  leave,  however,  this  branch  of  our  subject  incom- 
plete without  reference  to  the  sources  of  information  in  print  on 
which  the  student  of  Irish  history  must  also  depend.  Our  roll  cannot 
pretend  to  embrace  them  all,  but  only  those  of  greatest  value  or 
best  known.  One  of  the  earliest  authors  was  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
or  Philip  Barry,  whose  account  of  the  country,  written  about  1200, 
forms,  translated,  a  volume  of  Bolin's  Library.  Its  object  was  to 
justify  invasion  and  conquest,  and  it  is  consequently  unfair  and 
abounding  in  misstatement.  It  is  clever  and  entertaining,  and  con- 
sidering his  brief  residence  and  limited  opportunity  for  collecting 
knowledge,  very  instructive.  Stanihurst  published  in  1584  four 
books  on  Irish  affairs,  pronounced  by  Mageoghan  to  be  prejudiced 
and  unreliable.  The  work  of  Lombard  of  Waterford,  a  commentary 
in  Latin  on  the  history  of  Ireland,  published  after  his  death  in  1632, 
is  better  esteemed. 

Keating,  a  parish  priest,  near  Knocgraflfon,  from  manuscript 
sources  and  diligent  study  of  his  subject,  wrote  about  1630,  in 
Gaelic,  his  history  of  Ireland  from  early  times  to  1170.  It  was 
translated  and  published  in  1727,  and  though  perhaps  following  too 
closely  the  marvellous  accounts  related  in  his  authorities,  is  re- 
plete with  instruction  and  especially  valuable  as  drawn  from  manu- 
script works  then  in  his  possession,  no  longer  in  existence.  Philip 
O'Sullivan  Beare  published  in  Spain  in  1621  his  compendium  of  the 
Catholic  war,  1587-1602.  It  is  in  Latin,  and  though  reprinted  has 
not  been  translated.  To  the  O'Clerys,  aided  by  AVard  of  Donegal, 
Ave  owe  the  Four  Masters,  compiled  in  1636-50,  from  early  manu- 


104  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

scripts,  a  standard  authority  as  to  events  and  dates,  and  greatly 
enriched  by  the  notes  of  O'Donovan,  its  editor.  Care\Y,  Stafford's 
Pacata  Hibernia  published  in  IGOO,  Roth's  Hibernia  Resur- 
gens  in  1621,  Morrison's  account  of  events  from  1599  to  1602, 
in  1735,  Usher's  fifty  letters  on  the  Irish  in  1680,  Sir  James  Ware's 
Irish  authors  of  1639  and  his  Antiquities  in  1658,  in  which  last 
work  he  was  assisted  by  Duald  Mac  Firbis,  abound  most  of  them 
both  in  error  and  truth. 

Lynch  in  1652  as  Lucius  Gratianus  published  his  Cambrensis 
eversus  in  refutation  of  Barry.  O'Flaherty's  Ogygia  in  1684  gave  the 
history  of  early  times,  and  of  course  has  little  pretension  to  be  pre- 
cisely accurate.  O'Reilly's  case  stated  in  1692,  King  William  said 
contained  too  many  truths.  Kennedy  who  deduces  the  Scotch  kings 
from  Fergus,  Harris,  Belling,  Walsh  and  Porter,  are  mentioned  by 
Mageoghan  with  various  praise.  His  own  history  of  Ireland  written 
1736-50,  in  French,  and  translated  by  Kelly,  is  one  of  the  best. 
Camden's  account  of  the  island  in  his  Britannia  is  brief.  Hollinshed 
published  Barry  and  Campion,  which  with  his  own  sequel  were  put 
into  English  by  the  learned  Hooker  about  1600.  He  relates  events 
from  his  own  national  standpoint.  Doctor  Hanmar's  Chronicle  of 
Ireland,  collected  in  1571,  terminates  in  1286,  but  was  continued  by 
Henry  of  Marlboro'  to  1420. 

Of  later  histories  Wright's  is  voluminous  and  elaborate,  and  gen- 
erally candid,  but  is  more  occupied  with  what  concerns  the  English 
than  the  Irish.  From  Tom  Moore,  the  poet  whose  exquisite  lyrics 
breathed  profound  affection  for  the  land  of  his  heroic  progenitors, 
much  was  expected,  but  in  his  four  volumes  of  Lardner's  Encyclopte- 
dia  he  bow^s  too  often  to  English  prejudice.  It  is  greatly  to  his 
credit  that  with  his  tastes  and  temptations,  a  social  favorite  of  En- 
glish proprietors,  he  should  have  performed  so  well  a  task  which  was 
not  a  labor  of  love.  Ilalloran's  work  is  scholarly  and  conveys  much 
information  in  succinct  form,  and  Haverty's  well  calculated  to  impart 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  105 

information  to  readers  of  little  leisure.  Thomas  Lcland's  history  is 
frequently  quoted,  Taafe  1810  seems  less  known.  Miss  Cusack,  the 
nun  of  Kenmare,  among  other  ■works  of  great  interest  has  published 
one  of  the  brightest  and  most  readable  of  Irish  histories.  Mitchell, 
Magee,  O'Meagher  and  O'Connell  treat  with  ability  different 
epochs.  One  of  the  best  and  which  has  elicited  much  applause 
from  all  parties  is  the  Cromwellian  Conquest,  by  Prendergast, 
whose  services  on  the  record  commission  have  done  much  to  illustrate 
the  history  of  the  country.  Gilbert's  viceroys  brought  down  to  1509, 
presents  his  subject  from  a  different  point  of  view  from  the  rest  and 
is  candid  and  well  written.  ISIooney's  history  of  Ireland  contains 
much  that  is  peculiar  to  itself,  especially  in  relation  to  Irish  lyrics. 

Among  the  most  interesting  books  on  Ireland,  as  it  is  his  only 
prose  work,  is  the  view  of  its  condition  in  his  day  by  Edmund  Spenser 
the  poet  written  in  151)6,  after  his  unfortunate  experiences  at 
Kilcolman  in  the  county  of  Cork.  It  abounds  in  just  observations 
on  the  character  of  the  people,  but  recommends  their  absolute  subju- 
gation. Dowcra's  narratives  of  his  military  experiences  are  often 
quoted.  Sir  John  Davis  attorney  general  under  King  James  in  1612 
printed  his  discovery  of  the  causes  why  Ireland  had  not  been  sooner 
conquered ;  it  is  one  of  the  least  prejudiced  of  the  various  works  of 
that  class  on  the  country.  It  is  remarkably  honest,  not  sparing  his 
o\\'n  countrymen  if  occasionally  unduly  harsh  in  his  judgment  of  the 
Irish.  A  collection  of  other  historical  papers  on  the  country  by  the 
same  author  was  published  in  1787.  Lord  Castlchaven's  memoirs  of 
the  campaigns  under  the  protectorate  are  interesting,  and  considered 
a  faithful  recital  of  his  own  experiences. 

Colgan  and  Bruodine  dealt  chiefly  with  matters  ecclesiastical. 
Sir  Richard  Belling  under  the  name  of  Philopater  Ireneus,  in  his 
two  books  Vindiciarum  Catholicorum  Hibernian  treats  with  fidelity 
the  events  from  1641  to  1649,  which  praise  cannot  be  accorded  to  Sir 
John  Temple's  account  of  the  rebellion  which  abounds  in  prejudice  and 
14 


106  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

gross  cxagf^crations.  Willi;im  Molyncux  in  his  case  of  Ireland 
dedicated  to  the  prince  of  Orange  ably  vindicates  its  right  to  self- 
government;  archbishop  King  in  1G92  defended  the  cause  of  the 
protestants. 

John  Curry's  historical  and  critical  review  of  the  civil  wars  from 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth  to  the  settlement  under  King  William,  with  the 
state  of  the  Irish  Catholics  down  to  the  relaxation  of  the  popery  laws 
in  1778,  was  published  in  1786.  The  Ilibernia  Anglicana  of  Sir 
Ilichard  Cox  and  his  manuscript  remains  are  often  quoted.  Deside- 
rata Curiosa  Ilibernica,  1772,  Harris'  Ilibernica  1770,  and  Matthew 
Carey's  Vindiciai  Ilibernicai  have  their  value  and  are  mentioned 
together  from  their  peculiar  titles  rather  than  from  similarity  of  sub- 
ject or  treatment. 

Vallanccy's  works  have  been  harahlycriticisedperhaps  with  justice, 
but  they  are  often  suggestive.  O'Brien,  Bctham,  Lascelles,  Hatchell, 
Erck,  have  been  diligent  explorers  among  the  archives,  and  Ilardi- 
man  is  especially  thorough  and  conscientious.  Lodge's  Irish  Peer- 
age and  genealogical  works  of  the  present  Ulster  king  of  arms,  so 
favorably  known  wherever  the  English  tongue  is  spoken,  are  of  indis- 
pensable help  to  historical  research.  Judge  Barrington's  historical 
memoir  is  a  weighty  work,  Sir  Jonah's  rise  and  fall  an  impartial 
one  and  his  reminiscences  especially  entertaining.  The  Castlereagh 
correspondence,  Story's  impartial  history  and  the  Charlemont  me- 
moirs, explain  many  obscurities. 

Graves'St.  Caniceof  Kilkenny,  Gough's  Antiquities,  Ledwich's  and 
MacCurtin's  1717,  Crof'ton  Croker's  legends  of  the  Lakes  and  similar 
works,  Franciscan  Monasteries  1870;,  and  Mcrvyn  Archdall's  Monas- 
tieon  llibernicum  now  being  published  in  parts  by  ]>ishop  Moran, 
Irish  names  of  places  by  Joyce  1870,  Tribes  and  Customs  Ily-Many 
and  of  llyEiachrach  1844,  O'Flaherty's  lar  Connaught,  O'Connors, 
Annals  of  Tigernach,  Inisfail,  Ulster  and  Boyle,  O'Daly's  Tribes  of 
Ireland  18G5,  I*etrie's  Tara  and  treatise  on  MacFirbis  and  tlic  Dom- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  107 

nach  Airgld  1837,  book  of  rights  1847,  O'Brien's  law  of  Tanistry  and 
rudiments  of  English  common  law  discoverable  in  the  old  brehon  law 
or  Senchas  Mor  by  Ferguson  1867,  are  indispensable  to  a  public 
library  professing  to  be  complete.  The  publications  of  the  Royal 
Irish  ArchaBological  and  Celtic  Societies  contain  much  that  is  precious, 
and  the  Dublin  and  Irish  Penny  Journals  in  five  volumes  scattered  j)a- 
pers  of  O'Donovan  and  other  writers  nowhere  else  to  be  found. 
Dalton's  Army  List  of  King  James  and  his  many  other  works  throw 
light  on  family  annals,  and  the  history  of  the  Irish  brigades  in  con- 
tinental service  by  O'Callaghan  is  well  known. 

In  the  Harleian  and  Lansdowne  manuscripts  in  the  British  Muse- 
um, is  much  relating  to  Ireland.  Of  the  state  papers  under  Eliza- 
beth and  James,  calendars  have  been  lately  published  and  in  the  in- 
troduction to  the  latter  by  Russell  and  Prendergast,  there  is  much 
information  not  previously  accessible.  Several  volumes  of  the  publi- 
cations of  the  record  commission,  consisting  of  Irish  inquisitions 
and  fines,  and  two  works  entitled  the  Public  Records  of  Ireland  and 
our  Public  Records  1873  shed  light  on  the  subject.  The  treasures 
of  the  Birmingham  tower  in  the  castle  at  Dublin  are  being  arranged 
and  calendared  by  Sir  Bernard  Burke,  and  the  record  oflices  attached 
to  the  Four  Courts  contain  vast  amounts  of  historical  material  inter- 
mingled with  what  is  of  little  worth.  The  manuscripts  of  Sir  George 
Carew  out  of  which  was  compiled  the  Pacata  Hibernia  published  in 
1633  by  Stafford  as  already  mentioned,  fill  twenty  volumes  in  the 
Lambeth  library.  A  calendar  of  this  collection  has  been  recently 
published. 

Among  local  works  of  note  are  Piers'  Chorographical  history  of 
West  Meath  in  Collectanea  1770,  Smith's  histories  of  Down  Water- 
ford  and  of  Cork,  Stuart's  of  Armagh,  M'Gregor's  and  Fitzgerald's 
and  Ferrar's  of  Limerick,  Ilardiman's  of  Galway,  and  Miss  Cusack's 
of  Kerry,  Ryan's  of  Carlow,  Gibson's  of  Cork  ;  HigUands  of  Cavan  ; 
Siege  of  Derry,  by  Walker,  Graham  and  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  history 


108  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

of  Bandon,  and  Gilbert's  streets  of  Dublin.  Topon-rapliical  and  otlier 
works  b}^  Mrs.  Hall  and  her  husband  are  most  elaborate  and  valuable, 
though  often  offending  Irish  sense  of  justice.  Family  histories  of  the 
Earls  of  Kildare  and  Dalys  of  the  Geraldines,  Gormans  House  of 
O'Reilly,  O'Briens  by  O'Donoghoe,  of  the  MacCarthies,  and  O'Sulli- 
vans  Mor,  O'Tooles  and  O'Byrnes,  Ormonds  by  Carte,  MacDonnels 
of  Antrim,  Graces  and  Montgomeries,  Cronelly's  Dalcas  Eoghanacht 
and  Clan  Hory,  and  biographies  of  Usher,  Perrot,  Charles  O'Connor, 
Florence  MacCarthy,  of  Art  McMorrrogh  by  Magee,  Hugh  O'Niel 
by  Mitchell,  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  and  later  of  the  United 
Irishmen  by  Madden,  of  Grattan,  Curran,  Emmett,  Flood,  Holt, 
Wolfe  Tone,  O'Connel  by  Cusack  and  Father  IMatthew  by  the  same 
accomplished  writer,  are  important  auxiliaries  to  the  student  in  his  task. 
Young,  Inglis,  Head,  Trench,  Godkin,  give  interesting  sketches  of 
the  country  and  of  Irish  questions  from  different  stand  points  ;  and 
Froude's  prejudiced  abuse  has  elicited  able  responses  from  father 
Burke,  Mitchell,  Prendergast  and  Thiboult.  Lecky's  "Leaders  of 
Public  Opinion  in  Ireland  "  is  especially  valuable,  affording  a  key  to 
the  views  of  the  best  men  of  both  parties  at  the  present  day  ;  he 
discusses  Irish  politics  from  truly  national  points  while  presenting 
in  vivid  colors  the  careers  of  Swift,  Flood,  Grattan  and  O'Connell. 

Of  works  that  should  not  be  forgotten,  connected  with  the  island, 
not  mentioned  above,  are  Judge  Finglas'  Decay  of  Ireland,  1525—33  ; 
Clarendons'  statement  of  1668,  Borlase's  Rebellion  of  1641,  and 
Sir  William  Petty 's  political  survey  1719,  and  his  tracts  1769. 
Plowden  1805,  Crawford,  Warner,  Musgrave,  Atkins,  Anderson  and 
Campbell,  Mahoney,  Carew,  and  Lanigan  in  church  history ; 
O'Reilly's  memoirs  of  Catholic  martyrs,  1868,  Sullivan's  story  of 
Ireland,  Mrs.  Ferguson's  before  the  conquest,  Beaumont's  tour  and 
Cardinal  Wiseman's,  Gaskin's  varieties  1870,  have  each  their  value. 
The  publications  of  W.  Cook  Taylor  are  highly  esteemed,  his  civil 
wars  being  especially  instructive.     Matthew  O'Connor  also  wrote  a 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIX.  109 

militarv  liistorv  of  the  nation,  including  that  of  the  Irish  brigade  in 
tlie  French  service.  Charles  O'Connor  of  Belenagare,  published  in 
1766,  dissertation  on  historical  subjects,  and  another  of  the  name 
important  events  from  Heremon  and  Heber  to  the  present  time. 
The  O'Connor  published  in  1822  the  chronicles  of  Eri  translated 
from  the  Phenician.  Sir  William  Betham  takes  high  rank  as  an 
author  by  his  Etruria  Celtica,  Gael  and  Cvmbri,  and  his  antiquarian 
researches.  Our  limits  forbid  allusion  to  historical  fiction,  but  it  is 
pleasant  to  remember  how  much  Lever,  Lover,  Griffin,  Banim,  Lady 
Morgan,  ^liss  Edgeworth  and  Mrs.  Sadlierhave  illustrated  .historical 
epochs  by  their  prose  productions,  Moore,  Davis,  Mangan  and  Sul- 
livan in  verse. 

This  enumeration  of  books  connected  with  Ireland  has  no  preten- 
tion to  be  complete.  AVhat  has  been  written  on  the  many  contro- 
vei'ted  points  in  its  history  would  fill  a  library.  ]Many  bibliographical 
works,  catalogues  of  public  collections  and  of  bibliopolists  are  much 
more  comprehensive.  The  simple  aim  has  been  to  render  available 
for  readers  who  have  no  access  to  such  sources,  information  they  may 
find  useful  in  selection.  It  is  believed  to  embrace  what  are  regarded 
of  highest  authority  and  most  worthy  of  perusal. 

Credit  is  due  to  the  catalogues  of  James  Campbell  of  Tremont 
street,  Boston,  and  of  P.  M.  Haverty,  Barclay  street,  Xew  York, 
for  information  with  regard  to  some  of  the  works  mentioned  in  tlie 
text  not  in  our  libraries.  These  well  known  bibliopolists  make 
Irish  literature  a  specialty. 

The  name  of  Stafford  (p.  103)  in  connection  with  the  Pacat.i  Hibernia  was  from 
inadvertence  not  corrected.  He  edited  the  work  in  IG33,  Init  from  his  preface  it  appears  to 
have  been  prepared  under  direction  of  Carcw  but  not  bv  lum. 


110  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

XVII. 

MANNERS   AND    CUSTOMS. 

Careful  study  of  the  literary  remains  of  the  ancient  Irish,  has  given 
more  exact  information  as  to  their  modes  of  life.  For  this  we  are 
mainly  indebted  to  the  learned  lecturer  and  his  accomplished  com- 
mentator. Much  also  has  been  contributed  by  other  competent 
scholars  whom  growing  interest  in  the  subject  has  prompted  to  similar 
research.  When  English  ascendancy  had  crushed  out  national 
life,  and  Xjaelic  no  longer  employed  for  literary  purposes  and  only 
spoken  had  become  corrupt,  rarely  were  found  men  of  sufficient 
education  with  opportunity  and  leisure  to  make  its  literature  their 
pursuit.  It  is  not  so  now,  and  with  the  grammar  already  published 
and  the  dictionary  promised  when  the  Brehon  law  commission  shall 
have  completed  its  task,  whatever  the  manuscripts  contain  not 
yet  known  will  be  revealed. 

From  what  has  already  been  divulged  some  idea  may  be  gathered 
as  to  what  manner  of  people  they  w^ere,  and  how  they  lived  from 
Heremon  to  Eva,  and  afterwards  wherever  they  could  keep  them- 
selves aloof  from  foreign  interference.  Such  exemption  extended  to 
much  the  larger  part  of  the  population,  and  over  considerable  areas, 
even  of  Leinster,  Meath  and  Munster,  and  nearly  all  of  Con- 
naught  and  Ulster,  lasted  even  down  to  the  seventeenth  century. 
During  this  period,  and  this  is  no  idle  boast  for  it  is  admitted  by 
Sir  John  Davis  and  other  English  writers,  the  people,  class  for 
class,  if  not  superior,  were  quite  equal  in  true  civilization,  intelli- 
gence and  education,  in  integrity  and  honor,  consideration  for 
others,  in  politeness  and  hospitality,  to  any  other.  In  the  varied 
rites  of  their  church  and  the  social  sports  and  intercourse  which  it 
encouraged,  at  mart  or  court,  or  in  the  halls  of  their  chieftains  listen- 
ing to  historic  tales  with  which  O'Curry  has  made  us  agreeably 
acquainted,  or  taking  part  in  the  ordinary  avocations  for  subsistence 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  Ill 

or  complications  of  their  civil  rule,  whatever  was  good  in  them  had 
chance  for  development.  An  existence  spent  much  in  the  open  air 
and  wholesome  beverage  of  beer  or  ale  in  the  place  of  later  deleterious 
concoctions,  gave  to  good  constitutions  thatperfect  health  which  alone 
admits  of  complete  enjoyment.  Constant  warfare  and  tlie  impover- 
ishment it  entailed,  precluded  for  those  Avho  could  not  go  abroad  for 
education  many  accomplishments  and  some  cultivation,  but  this  was 
not  their  fault  and  certainly  not  one  for  Englishmen  to  impute. 

Fenachas  or  laws  which  provide  for  much  that  was  else\Ahcre  left 
to  individual  election,  specify  the  number  and  size  of  buildings  re- 
quired to  be  possessed  by  the  flaths  and  aires,  mention  the  domestic 
utensils  and  implements  of  toil,  regulate  the  relations  of  rich  and 
poor,  parent  and  child,  husband  and  wife,  landlord  and  tenant,  vas- 
sal and  chief.  Architects  and  artisans,  teachers  and  physicians 
received  ample  compensation  for  their  skill.  That  poets  were 
generously  recompensed  is  indicated  by  the  amount  received  in  later 
days  by  the  MacNamees,  hereditary  poets  of  Tyrone,  whose  lands 
yielded  them  a  rental  of  three  thousand  pounds.  Cerds  or  smiths, 
saers  or  carpenters,  workers  in  bronze  and  gold,  wood  and  leather 
were  encouraged  by  wages  fixed  by  law.  The  spinning  wheel  Avas 
an  appendage  to  every  household  and  had  its  appropriate  place,  and 
cloths  of  flax  and  wool  woven  by  women  of  all  degrees,  were  dyed 
and  fashioned  into  apparel.  The  tales  and  poems  are  precise  as  to 
what  was  worn  by  the  different  sexes  and  classes,  and  their  descrij:*- 
tions  if  draw^n  from  imagination,  were  based  upon  what  was  usual 
and  within  reasonable  bounds  of  probability. 

From  royal  palace  to  herdsman's  hut  were  many  sorts  of  dwellings, 
and  there  seems  no  reason  why  the  early  Irish  should  not  have  been 
comfortably  lodged  according  to  their  respective  rank.  The  first 
need  even  in  milder  climes  is  shelter  from  the  storm,  and  Cain  is  men- 
tioned in  scripture  as  building  himself  a  city.  As  his  family  Avas  not 
large,  this  of  course  signifies  simply  such  a  home  as  his  circumstances 


112  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

permitted.  Neither  time  nor  element  have  wholly  removed  the  ves- 
tiges of  early  edifices  on  the  island.  Tara  in  Meath  was  selected  by 
Slainge  one  of  the  Firbolg  kings  for  his  residence,  but  it  derived 
i  ts  name  from  Tea  wife  of  Ileremon  who  desired  tliere  to  be  interred. 
It  continued  till  the  sixth  century  the  abode  of  the  monarchs,  each  of 
them  afterwards  holding  his  court  in  his  own  kino-dom.  Aileach 
near  Derry,  erected  by  Dagda  of  the  Tuatha  de  Danaan  dynasty  coeval 
with  Pharaoh,  had  an  enclosure  Avith  edifices  of  hewn  stone,  but 
when  rebuilt  by  Frigind  for  his  wife  Ailech,  daughter  of  the  king 
of  Albion,  the  house  was  of  red  yew,  emblazoned  with  gold  and 
bronze.  Four  royal  houses  stood  within  the  walls  of  Cruachan  now 
Roscommon,  Avhen  Ailill  and  his  queen  Mebh  ruled  over  Connacht. 
The  abode  of  the  Ulster  kings  at  Emania  destroyed  in  the  third 
century,  of  the  Leinster  at  Naas,  Munster  at  Cashel,  and  Meath 
near  Mullingar,  of  the  O'Briens  at  Kincora,  where  Brian  and  his 
descendants  held  their  court,  w^ere  all  on  one  general  plan. 

These  structures  were  chiefly  of  wood.  Extensive  forests  furnish- 
ed timber  easily  wrought.  Stone  was  occasionally  used  but  not 
preferred,  except  for  defence,  anywhere  at  the  period.  Stone  edi- 
fices exist,  dating  back  eight  hundred  years.  The  chapel  of  King 
Cormac  at  Cashel,  constructed  of  that  material,  though  very  moderate 
in  its  dimensions  is  a  model  of  elegant  proportion  and  skilful  handi- 
work. 

Tiie  terms  applied  to  royal  abodes,  rath,  dun,  les,  cashel  or 
cathair  had  each  its  peculiar  meaning,  the  rath  being  often  an  en- 
closure for  cattle,  the  dun  two  concentric  walls  of  twelve  to  twenty 
feet  in  thickness  and  height  to  prevent  their  being  scaled  with  a  moat 
between,  the  les  of  smaller  dimensions,  the  cashel  with  a  stone  en- 
closure and  cathair  wholly  of  mason  work.  In  the  outer  wall  was  a 
cell  for  the  warder  who  kept  vigilant  watch  over  the  approach.  Even 
in  the  early  Norman  castles  such  as  Conway  or  Caernarvon  the  hall 
was  within  the  walls,  though  soon  after  improvements  in  architecture 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  113 

both  in  England  and  Ireland,  led  to  the  apartments  forming  integral 
part  of  the  structure,  as  at  Wanvick  or  Blarney.  But  in  those  now 
under  consideration  the  dAvelling  place  and  offices  were  in  separate 
buildings  of  wood  or  wicker  work  inside  the  walls.  There  were 
seven  different  duns  within  the  raths  of  Tara,  each  containing  several 
buildings,  the  principal  one  measuring  about  eight  hundred 
feet  across.  The  residence  of  the  ard-rig  seven  hundred  feet  in 
length,  banquet  hall  or  mead  house  and  other  edifices  occu- 
pied the  enclosure,  and  there  were  besides  accommodations  for 
an  army. 

In  all  of  the  royal  abodes,  Tara,  Aileach,  Emania,  Cniachan,  Naas, 
there  seems  to  have  been  the  same  arrangement.  The  hall  consisted 
of  several  compartments  separated  by  columns  from  the  central  space 
in  Avhich  in  cold  or  wet  weather  burned  the  fire  to  warm  the  whole, 
the  smoke  making  its  exit  through  an  aperture  in  the  roof.*  The 
columns  fronting  the  centre  space  were  coated  with  bronze  as  were 
arches  over  them,  evidently  not  so  much  for  ornament  as  for  protec- 
tion against  fire.  King  and  ollamh  and  other  officers  of  his  court 
had  each  his  special  place  assigned,  and  though  sixteen  windows 
with  shutters  and  bars  of  bronze  are  mentioned  as  provided  for  one  of 
these  buildings,  two  doors  sufficed.  In  early  times  people  slept  when 
tired,  stretched  on  the  floor,  at  least  such  tradition  says  was  the  case 
with  Charlemagne,  but  feathers  were  plenty  and  used  for  couches  and 
pillows,  and  even  sheets  and  coverlids  were  not  wanting  in  these 
Irish  dwellings,  or  tubs  for  bathing.  As  refinement  spread  from  cities 
or  palaces,  convenience  led  to  separate  apartments  for  men  and 
women,  old  and  young,  master  and  servant,  and  early  laws  provided 
that  at  houses  of  hospitality  they  should  be  lodged  apart.  As  the 
house  of  a  flatli  was  required  to  be  at  least  twenty-seven  feet,  with  an 

'  This  method  of  warming  the  hall  or  gathering  place  for  the  family  was  the  usual  one 
everywhere  in  Northern  Enrope  down  to  the  tifteenth  century.  Trace  of  it  is  still  to  be 
discovered  at  Penshurst,  the  home  of  the  Sydneys,  and  many  otlier  ancient  edifices. 
Ciiimneys  built  into  the  wall  for  warming  the  apartments  were  common  at  least  two  centu- 
ries earlier. 

15 


114  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

addition  of  sixteen  all  on  the  same  floor,  these  dimensions  when  not 
exceeded  admitted  of  little  privacy. 

Food  was  plentiful  and  various  and  served  at  one  table  to  all. 
Flocks  and  herds  abounded,  fish  and  game  ;  and  eight  kinds  of  grain 
supplied  bread,  cake,  and  porridge.  Ale  often  mingled  with  honey, 
for  bees  then  supplied  the  sugar,  was  freely  quaffed,  leather  bottles, 
wooden  casks  of  staves,  wooden  quaighs,  cups  of  horn,  silver  or 
gold  being  used.  Stronger  beverages  not  being  easily  obtainable,  in- 
temperance which  has  brutalized  and  degraded  later  generations  the 
world  over,  was  hardly  known.  Metheghlin  or  honey  and  water  was 
drank  rather  by  women  than  by  men,  but  milk  was  abundant,  and  but- 
ter and  cheese  biu'ied  centuries  ago  in  the  bogs  are  still  preserved. 

Their  active  habits  in  war  or  other  pursuits,  games  such  as  took 
place  at  Carmen  or  Tailtaan  or  in  the  Curragh  of  Kildare  practised  at 
home,  compelled  repose,  and  after  then*  campaigns  they  gathered 
under  the  roofs  of  the  chief,  each  in  his  appropriate  place,  playing 
at  chess  or  listening  when  the  feast  was  over  to  harp,  psaltery  or 
viol,  or  to  historic  tales  which  related  their  own  achievements  or 
those  of  their  progenitors.  Although  contrary  to  law  in  these  legends 
to  exaggerate,  the  temptation  was  too  great  to  be  always  withstood, 
and  marvel  mingles  with  fact  in  many  preserved.  These  stories 
were  recited  or  chanted,  the  Gaelic  being  a  musical  language,  the 
verses  preserved  serving  often  merely  as  groundwork  for  language 
and  incident  impassioned  to  suit  the  occasion  and  the  audience. 

Though  Boeck  traces  a  relation  between  the  rhythm  of  Pindar 
and  musical  notes,  and  poetic  measures  may  yet  prove  a  key  to  an- 
cient song,  Sullivan  who  is  at  home  in  this  science  as  in  many  be- 
sides, does  not  concur  in  his  view.  The  earliest  music  which  is  known 
of  the  ancient  Irish  is  homophonous  for  many  voices  in  unison.  It 
is  in  what  is  called  gapped  quinquegrade,  and  without  semi-tones  is 
well  adapted  to  harp  accompaniment.  This  characteristic  betrays 
the  origin  of  many  melodies  claimed   by  other  people.     How  early 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIX.  115 

the  instruments  above  mentioned  were  introduced  is  conjectural.  In 
second  century  talcs,  the  harp  is  alluded  to  and  proficients  in  its  use 
were  required  to  lull  to  sleep,  excite  to  laughter  or  melt  to  tears. 
It  was  earliest  known  in  Eg'}-]it  which  the  Milesians  visited  in 
their  migration  west,  but  possibilities  ai-e  not  historic  facts,  and  that 
and  other  instruments  maj^  have  been  later  brought  over  to  the  island. 
In  very  early  times  harps  and  viols  and  pipes,  corns  or  horns,  buines 
or  trumpets,  cloccas  or  bells,  timpans,  cymbols,  and  musical  branches 
were  played  upon,  and  probably  from  long  before  our  era  contribu- 
ted to  the  festal  entertainment  in  royal  and  princely  halls.  Barry 
in  the  twelfth  century  bore  witness  to  the  musical  accomplishments 
of  the  Irish,  but  there  is  ample  proof  that  centuries  earlier  they  were 
distinguished  for  their  skill  and  taste  in  the  art.  Charlemagne  when 
perfecting  his  church  choir  is  said  to  have  sought  for  choristers  from 
Ireland  for  his  cathedral,  as  he  did  professors  for  his  colleges. 

Eveiy  house  of  consequence  was  required  by  law  to  have  its  can- 
dlestick, in  palace  halls  were  candelabra  of  many  branches,  and  wax 
was  abundant  for  light.  Bronze  and  silver  and  bright  colors  deco- 
rated the  columns  and  arches,  and  when  Ugaine  jSIor,  Cormac  jNIac 
Art,  Con  of  the  hundred  battles,  Nial  of  the  nine  hostages  kept  their 
state  at  Tara,  there  was  as  much  enjoyment,  if  not  as  great  magni- 
ficence as  at  the  courts  of  cotemporary  monarchs.  Fergus  Avho 
died  331,  was  the  last  Ulster  king  who  dwelt  at  Emania,  Ragnallach 
of  Connaught  at  Cruachan  645,  Cormac  of  Munster  at  Cashel  903, 
Cearbhall  of  Leinster  at  Naas  904,  and  Muu'cheartack  of  the  Hy-Nials 
at  Aileach  in  941.  O'Conors  removed  from  Loch  En  to  Cluain 
Fraich  in  1309.  Dermot  Mc^NIorrogh  had  his  abode  at  Femes  at  the 
time  of  the  invasion  ;  Dermod  ^McCarthy  at  Cork.  But  as  the  law 
required  each  provincial  king  to  have  three  duns  and  they  all  had 
probably  more,  we  cannot  enumerate  them  all.  Their  residences  after 
this  event  were  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  Anglo-Normans,  and 
while  retaining  many  of  their  early  customs,  in  others  they  followed 
the  example  set  by  the  invaders. 


116  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

To  Tigernmas,  seventh  from  Heber  andlleremon,  who  according 
to  the  generally  accepted  chronological  authorities  reigned  fifteen 
centuries  before  our  era,  and  who  first  melted  gold  and  introduced 
cnps  and  brooches,  is  ascribed  a  law  regulating  the  colors  to  be  worn 
in  dress.  His  successor,  Eochaid,  ordained  that  servants  should 
wear  but  one  color  ;  rent  paying  farmers,  two  ;  officers,  three  ;  chiefs, 
five  ;  ollamhs  and  poets,  six  ;  kings  and  queens,  seven.  O'SuUivan 
himself  eminent  in  his  specialty  as  professor  of  chemistry  as  for  nu- 
merous other  accomplishments,  tells  us  that  dye  stuffs  of  many  sorts, 
moss,  bedstraw,  madder,  woad,  alder,  bogbean  grew  wild  or  were 
cultivated  on  the  island,  and  when  alum  was  not  to  be  procured, 
saline  incrustations  on  the  western  coast  might  well  have  served  as 
mordants  in  its  stead.  He  doubts  the  general  use  of  saffron  for 
shirts,  unless  limited  to  some  particular  clan  or  neighborhood. 

Among  garments  mentioned  in  the  manuscripts,  the  lena  and  cam- 
aisi  composed  of  flax,  silk  or  syriac  or  wool,  white  or  variously  col- 
ored, without  sleeves  and  extending  to  the  knees,  were  Avorn  next  the 
skin ;  not  by  the  poorer  classes,  whose  brat  or  cloak  and  berrbroc  or 
kilt  covered  them.  In  the  museum  are  brecee  or  trews  of  diamond 
pattern  like  the  Scotch  plaid,  tight  fitting  and  reaching  to  the  ankle, 
over  which  were  drawn  hose  bound  with  bands  sometimes  not  reach- 
ing the  assai  or  shoes.  Both  men  and  women  wore  a  jacket  called 
the  ina  of  green,  scarlet  or  crimson  silk  or  other  stuff"  with  a  oris  or 
girdle  round  the  waist,  and  over  it  the  brat  or  fuan,  a  cloak  of  many 
colors  fringed  often  with  silver  and  gold,  and  fastened  with  a  brooch 
or  thong.  Matals  or  mantles,  coculs  or  capes  with  a  hood  much 
used  by  monks,  served  as  protection  from  cold  or  wet.  Females 
wore  the  lena  longer  but  no  trews,  covering  the  head  with  veil  or 
head  cloth  called  caille.  Culpaits,  ats  and  bars,  the  latter  a  square 
cap,  were  used  by  men  --^stead  of  the  cowl.  Besides  torques  and 
minds  and  spiral  fastenings  for  the  hair,  crowns,  bracelets,  chains 
and  rings  used  as  ornaments  have  escaped  the  havoc  of  time. 


TRANSFER     OFERIN.  117 

Arms  aud  tools  of  many  kinds  are  described  and  preserved  in  the 
Royal  Museum,  some  of  iron  or  steel,  but  more  often  of  bronze  made 
of  copper  and  tin.  Craiseclis,  heavy  and  thick  handled  spears,  maces, 
manais,  and  fiarlan  or  curved  blade  of  the  Firbolgs,  sleg  or  light 
spear  of  the  Tuatha  de  Danaans,  goth  manai'S  or  broad  spear  and 
fogad  of  the  Milesians,  laigen  or  lance  of  Leinster,  cletine  or  spear 
of  Cuculaiu,  bir  or  spit,  faga  or  fork,  stegin  or  goth,  with  the  claidem 
or  sword,  claybin  or  little  sword,  and  clay m or  or  larger  sword,  and 
skene  or  dagger,  were  their  principal  weapons.  Hand  stones,  slings, 
clubs  and  flails  were  also  used.  Bows  and  arrows  are  not  mentioned 
nor  battle  axes  very  early,  but  what  are  supposed  to  be  the  latter  are 
found  in  the  royal  collection.  Shields,  long  or  round,  of  iron,  bronze 
or  yew  Avere  common  and  when  of  wood  had  metal  rim  and  boss. 
Reference  is  made  to  defensive  armor  of  hide  with  iron  rings  sewed 
on,  but  before  the  tenth  century  it  was  little  used  of  any  sort  even 
by  the  chiefs.  Soldiers  going  to  battle  threw  aside  their  cloaks  as  en- 
cumbrances ;  the  chiefs  and  some  small  portion  of  their  followers 
fought  on  horseback  without  saddles.  In  after  times  both  kernes 
and  gallowglasses  were  armed  as  the  English,  as  will  be  seen  in  the 
sequel. 

The  importance  attached  in  rude  times  to  skill  in  arms  and  the  sci- 
ence of  war,  led  not  only  to  the  foundation  of  schools  for  military 
education  and  to  placing  young  men  for  their  training  with  experi- 
enced chiefs,  but  to  the  orders  of  knighthood  already  mentioned  such  as 
the  red  branch  of  Emania,  the  Clan  INIorna  of  Connacht  and  Dearguil 
of  ]Munster.  Cormac  Mac  Art  grandson  of  Con  in  the  third  century 
organized  the  Fenians,  a  standing  military  force  consisting  of  about 
nine  thousand  men  divided  into  caths  or  battallions,  each  under  its 
chief,  with  an  officer  to  each  nine  men.  They  eat  once  a  day  and 
half  the  year  supported  themselves  by  the  chase.  Barracks  were 
constructed  for  them  at  Tara,  but  they  were  quartered  on  the  people 
in  winter.     To  marry  for  fortune,  insult  a  woman,  accept  a  bribe, 


118  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

fly  from  a  foe,  disqualified  them  for  its  ranks.  The  family  of  the 
soldier  gave  pledge  not  to  avenge  his  death.  He  was  to  be  well  read 
in  poetry,  able  to  protect  himself  from  harm  against  nine  assailants 
standing  still  in  a  hole  or  coursing  through  the  forest,  to  keep  his 
hair  in  its  plaits,  run  lightly  enough  not  to  break  a  withered  twig, 
jump  a  tree  as  high  as  his  forehead,  stoop  beneath  one  as  low  as  his 
knee,  pluck  a  thorn  from  his  foot  without  losing  speed.  He  w^as 
under  oath  of  obedience  and  fidelity  to  his  king  or  commander.  The 
Fenians  did  not  outlast  the  century.  At  the  battle  of  Gawla  fight- 
in  o-  with  their  leader  Ossian  his  nepliew  for  jMogh  Corb  king  of 
Munster,  against  Cairbre,  ard  righ  or  monarch,  who  employed  the 
Clan  Morna  in  their  stead,  this  force  wdiich  had  won  so  many  victo- 
ries under  Cumhall  and  Finn  were  nearly  annihilated,  Oscar,  Ossian's 
son,  being  slain.  They  were  never  reorganized,  and  the  want  of  that 
steady  and  well  regulated  discipline  provided  for  in  these  rules 
and  which  under  good  generals  w^on  Benburg  and  Fontenoy,  has 
occasioned   many  a  disaster  to  Irish  armies. 

Of  what  has  been  transmitted  of  Carmen  and  Tailtan  and  similar 
gatherings  at  the  burial  place  of  heroes  where  games  were  played, 
consultations  held  and  laws  promulgated,  young  men  and  maidens 
met  from  different  parts  of  the  country  and  formed  their  attachments, 
or  were  mated  by  parental  authority.  Equality  of  rank  and  condi- 
tion controlled  selection,  and  portions  were  fixed  upon  equitable  rates 
and  established  custom.  The  bride-price  paid  after  the  Avedding  by 
the  husband  went  in  part  to  her  father.  Females  had  no  share 
in  the  landed  inheritance,  except  on  failure  of  nearer 'male  heirs, 
and  only  half  a  share  with  their  brothers  in  the  personalty. 
Sons  even  of  flaths  in  early  times  divided  equally,  some  exception 
beins:  made  in  the  case  of  the  elder  who  with  his  oblic-ations  as  chief 
had  a  larger  portion.  Woman's  rights  were  respected,  and  if  falsely 
accused  by  her  husband,  abandoned,  beaten  or  otherwise  maltreated, 
neglected  by  him,  or  if  he  was  unfaithful,  had  used  undue  means  to 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIX.  119 

gain  her  affections,  or  she  was  deprived  of  her  full  right  in  domestic 
and  social  mattei's,  she  was  entitled  to  separation  and  to  retain  her 
coibche  or  bridal  gift,  tincur  or  portion  and  her  tindscra  or  bride- 
price.  The  Boromean  tribute,  dethronement  of  Dermod  Mac  ]Mor- 
rough,  show  that  both  in  pagan  and  christian  times  marriage  obliga- 
tions were  not  violated  with  impunity  and  that  the  rules  of  the  church 
were  piously  respected  and  generally  obeyed.  Only  one  queen  ever 
sat  on  the  Irish  throne,  Macra,  wife  of  Cymbaeth,  the  third  century 
B.  C,  who  built  Emania.  They  Avere  of  course  excluded  from  the 
chieftainries,  but  from  Eva  Mac  Morrough  to  Grace  O'Malley, 
women  stand  out  in  bold  relief  in  Irish  story,  for  Avisdom,  courage, 
and  heroic  deeds,  and  the  high  eulogium,  passed  upon  their  feminine 
excellence  by  the  annalists  in  noting  their  decease,  indicate  a  dis- 
criminating standard  often  reached.  Family  trees  show  how  much 
marriages  were  influenced  by  neighborhood  and  previous  alliances, 
affording  opportunity  for  meeting  and  forming  attachments.  Wo- 
men do  not  seem  to  have  taken  part  in  the  family  councils,  an 
institution  which  obtained  in  Ireland  and  probably  prevented  or 
appeased  many  of  the  misunderstandings  and  quarrels  aa  liich  other 
features  of  their  social  system  tended  to  engender. 

Their  social  and  gregarious  tastes  were  variously  indulged.  Re- 
ligious rites,  weddings  and  funerals  brought  them  together,  and  at 
the  aenachs  or  fairs  all  ranks  and  both  sexes  congregated.  These 
fairs  were  held  pei'iodically  and  less  for  interchange  of  commodities 
than  for  amusement.  Athletic  games,  dances  and  music,  courting 
and  matchmaking  Avere  the  principal  attraction  ;  but  laws  Avere  pro- 
mulgated, disputes  adjusted  and  acquaintance  made.  Mathluagh 
Avere  of  more  restricted  attendance  and  called  to  protest  against 
arbitrary  acts  of  the  rig,  denial  of  justice  by  a  court,  distribution  of 
propei'ty  of  deceased  members  of  the  fine,  Aveapon  shows,  to  take 
measures  of  defence  or  for  battle  speeches.  The  mithal  flatha  Avas 
the  meeting  of  the  tenants  of  a  flath ;  mithal  tuatha  of  the  freemen 


120  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

of  the  tuath,  dais  of  the  nobles,  tocomrach  for  election  of  kings, 
adoption  of  laws  and  ordinances.  Inaugurations  of  rigs  or  chiefs 
were  occasions  of  great  ceremony.  They  took  place  in  the  open  air, 
on  special  spots  designated  by  some  rock  or  tree,  and  the  oaths  of 
faithful  service  were  administered  with  much  solemnity. 

In  relation  to  Tara  we  are  tempted  to  cite  the  following  passage 
from  Ancient  Ireland,  a  magazine  devoted  to  Irish  antiquities  pub- 
lished at  Waterford  in  1835.  In  connection  with  Ollav  Fodla, 
who  reigned  according  to  accepted  chronology,  921-42  B.  C,  it 
says  :  "  This  illustrious  assembly  was  called  in  Irish  by  the  name  of 
Feis  Teav-rach,  or,  ^  the  Parliament  of  Tara.'  The  object  of  as- 
sembling it  was  two  fold.  1st.  To  revise  the  entire  body  of  the 
established  laws,  and  to  correct  or  amend  them,  or  to  enact  new 
laws,  as  the  exigence  of  the  kingdom  might  require.  2d.  To  exam- 
ine and  digest  all  the  annals,  historical  records,  and  genealogies  of 
the  kingdom,  so  as  to  transmit  down  to  posterity  a  correct  history  of 
the  several  emigrations,  wars,  and  other  memorable  transactions  of 
his  royal  ancestors,  from  the  Phenician  king  Fenius  Farsa,  down 
to  his  own  time.  The  nobility,  gentry  and  learned  men,  who  at- 
tended this  great  convention,  took  their  places  thereat,  according  to 
their  dignity,  rank,  or  office ;  all  of  which  were  strictly  defined  and 
regulated  by  the  heralds  or  genealogists.  Irish  writers  are  loud  in 
their  praises  of  this  monarch,  for  his  abilities,  wisdom,  virtue,  and 
valor.  This  assembly  of  the  states  at  Tara,  subsequently  took  place 
every  third  year." 

We  shall  not  apologize  for  another  extract  from  the  same  valuable 
repository,  as  it  is  a  work  extremely  rare,  at  least  in  America. 
"  The  office  of  historian  in  ancient  Ireland,  was  kept  up  by  the  State, 
without  interruption  or  intermission  ;  and  when  a  historian  died,  his 
place  was  filled  immediately,  in  the  same  manner,  and  with  the  same 
reo^ularity,  as  our  office  of  judge  is  now  filled  up.  The  writing  of  the 
national  history  was  not  left  as  in  modern  countries  to  the  whim,  or 


T  K  A  X  S  F  E  R      O  F      E  R  I  X  .  121 

caprice,  or  prcjucTice,  of  individuals.  All  the  learned  professions 
Avere  hereditary,  in  particular  families,  in  Ireland.  Thus  we  find 
repeatedly  in  the  Irish  writers,  such  a  name  mentioned  as  the 
"  hereditar}'  judges  "  of  a  particular  district ;  another  name  as  the 
"hereditary  historians;"  another  as  the  "hereditary  bards," — the 
"hereditary  physicians," — the  " hereditary  standard  bearers," — and 
other  offices,  civil  as  well  as  military.  All  the  provincial  kings, 
princes,  and  dynasts,  kept  up  these  "hereditary  institutions"  within 
their  respective  territories,  as  well  as  the  monarch.  These  profes- 
sions Avere  assiduously  cultivated  by  the  respective  tribes  or  families 
to  whom  they  hereditarily  belonged.  On  the  death  of  any  profes- 
sor, his  office  Avas  filled  up  from  his  own  tribe  ;  but  it  was  not  the 
eldest  son,  or  the  nearest  a-kin,  that  was  appointed,  but  he,  of  the 
tribe,  who  was  proved  to  be  the  most  eminent  and  most  learned  in 
the  particular  profession.  Thus  the  most  active  competition  was 
kept  up,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  entire  mind  of  a  tribe  or  family 
was  kept  fixed  upon  the  cultivation  of  the  one  pursuit,  without  dis- 
traction or  Avavering,  from  their  infancy ;  circumstances  eminently 
calculated  to  produce  a  very  high  degree  of  cultivation  in  each. 
Large  estates  and  ample  fortunes  were  settled  upon  the  diflferent  pro- 
fessions, and  thereby  those  Avho  cultivated  them  left  at  ease  and 
leisure  to  apply.  Camden,  by  no  means  fiivorably  inclined  towards 
Ireland,  attests  this  fact.  He  says  that  "the  Irish  have  their  judges, 
whom  they  call  brehons ;  their  historians  who  record  historical 
events  ;  their  physicians,  poets,  and  musicians,  Avho  instruct  their 
children  or  relatives,  each  in  his  own  i^rofession ;  and  they  always 
have  successors.^'' 

Sir  John  Davis  attributes  to  the  laws  of  tanistry  under  which  the 
successor  elect  Avas  always  a  rival  of  the  ruling  chieftain,  and  to  the 
custom  of  gavelkind,  Avliich  A'ested  no  permanent  or  hereditary  in- 
terest in  the  soil  but  left  it  to  the  discretion  of  the  chief  to  redistri- 
bute, much  of  the  turmoil  and  calamities  of  the  country.  Irishmen 
16 


122  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

could  not  fail  to  perceive  the  advantage  of  the  better  defined  estates 
under  feudal  law  where  the  rule  worked  for  their  personal  benefit. 
Any  such  distribution  of  land  rarely  however  occurred  and  the  law 
did  not  everywhere  prevail.  Their  main  object  in  life  was  not  accu- 
mulation, or  even  subsistence.  These  were  secondary  to  their  other 
pursuits  of  duty  or  enjoyment.  Their  wealth  consisted  of  cattle, 
little  effort  sufficed  to  satisfy  their  wants,  and  less  importance  was 
attached  to  landed  possessions  except  among  the  chiefs  for  increase 
of  military  strength  or  political  influence.  Rank  was  virtually 
hereditary  yet  followed  as  a  consequence  to  territorial  power  and 
resources,  measured  by  the  number  of  fighting  men  they  could  rally 
to  their  banners.  But  both  chiefs  and  people  were  so  much  more 
indiflTerent  to  acquisition  of  property  as  the  principal  motive  which 
governed  them,  that  they  cannot  be  judged  by  the  standards  prevail- 
ing in  modern  communities . 

Obligations  assumed  at  the  baptismal  font,  held  sacred  by  good 
catholics,  when  between  the  races  were  viewed  by  the  home  govern- 
ment with  distrust.  Such  alliances  between  its  rebellious  subjects 
and  the  chiefs  rendered  both  too  independent  of  its  authority.  Gos- 
sipred  was  consequently  interdicted  by  various  acts.  Among  the 
Irish  themselves  it  was  a  bond  of  fellowship  from  early  Christian 
times  punctiliously  regarded.  Fosterage,  also  prohibited  between 
Irish  and  English  to  as  little  purpose,  signified  not  simply  takiilg  in- 
fants to  nurse,  though  this  was  one  of  its  meanings  and  another  tie  of 
peculiar  sanctity,  but  also  receiving  children  to  educate.  It  was 
wisely  thought  that  young  persons  away  from  the  pernicious  effects 
of  parental  indulgence  and  subject  to  stricter  discipline,  would  be 
more  zealous  for  improvement,  better  under  control.  This  system 
of  fosterage  was  not  confined  to  any  rank,  but  universal  for  both  lofty 
and  loAvly.  Peasant  girls  were  taught  to  grind,  sift  and  knead,  as 
also  needlework  ;  farmers'  sons  to  rear  cattle,  dry  corn,  prepare  malt ; 
maidens  of  superior  station  to  sew  and  embroider,  their  brothers  to 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN,  123 

play  chess,  to  swim,  ride,  use  tlie  swoixl  and  spear;  and  all  of  them 
such  other  culture  as  befitted  their  condition.  Eochaid  rig  of  Cliach 
in  Limerick  had  at  one  time  under  his  charge  forty  pupils,  sons  of 
the  chiefs  of  Munster,  avIio,  mounted  on  steeds  richly  caparisoned? 
attended  him  on  a  visit  to  king  Ailill  and  his  queen  Medbh  at  their 
palace  of  Cruachan. 

The  sacred  rites  of  hospitality  were  often  carried  to  excess, 
not  of  intemperance,  for  there  was  neither  the  inclination  nor  the 
appliances  since  beer  was  the  chief  beverage,  but  to  extravagance. 
Cosherings  or  visits  to  their  vassals  not  extended  beyond  modera- 
tion were  a  reasonable  charge  or  rent  service  among  the  Irish,  but 
became  oppression  when  claimed  as  a  right  by  English  lords,  and 
enforced  with  insolence  and  cruelty.  Before  the  reign  of  James  the 
first  there  were  no  inns  so  called,  but  houses  of  hospitality  which 
were  kept  by  the  bruighfer  or  other  person  entitled  to  no  compen- 
sation, but  who  held  his  land  on  condition  of  entertaining  travellers. 
Their  social  position  was  one  of  eminent  respectability,  if  we  may 
judge  from  what  is  said  of  them  in  obituary  notices  by  the  annalists. 

Such  visits  to  their  own  tenants  or  those  of  other  persons  by 
English  proprietors  were  fruitful  sources  of  complaint  and  pro- 
hibitory legislation.  In  a  work  entitled  the  presentment  of  Irish 
grievances  under  Henry  VIII.  it  is  stated  that  the  earls  of  Desmond, 
Kildare  and  Ossory,  with  their  wives  and  children,  and  a  multitude 
of  people,  resorted  to  monasteries  or  gentlemen's  houses,  taking 
meat  and  drink  at  their  pleasure,  their  horses  and  servants  being 
quartered  on  the  poor  farmers,  paying  nothing,  and  so  stayed  for 
more  than  half  a  year,  sparing  their  own  houses.  Other  customs 
originally  not  objectionable,  degenerated  into  like  abuse.  Coyne  and 
livery,  or  quartering  and  cess  of  soldiers,  bonaghts  which  generally 
amounted  to  their  support  from  the  farmers  on  the  line  of  march, 
risings  out  and  compulsory  military  service  enforced  by  lords  of 
either  race,  were  grievous  burdens.  Cuttings  and  cess  and  other  rents 
cheerfully  paid  to  their  own  chieftains  became  intolerable  when  ex- 


124  TRANS  FEROFERIN. 

acted  by  strangers.  The  acts  however  to  restrain  coshery  and  bon- 
acht  were  passed  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  Irish,  but  of  the  poorer 
English  settlers  who  often  escaped  these  impositions  by  abandoning 
their  farms  and  leaving  the  country. 

Raids  and  hostings  were  regarded  by  the  young  and  enterprising 
as  expeditions  of  enjoyment.  They  loved  the  adventure  and  com- 
panionship, coveted  the  distinctions  awarded  to  signal  bravery.  Of- 
ten the  sept  invaded  averted  attack  by  joining  forces  and  assailing 
some  common  foe.  The  lays  of  their  bards  taught  them  to  emulate 
the  heroic  deeds  of  their  ancestors,  and  to  this  and  the  prevailing 
temperament  of  their  race  may  be  ascribed  their  noted  indifference 
to  danger  and  death.  As  they  were  always  armed  and  easily  pro- 
voked, they  often  slew  nearer  kinsmen  than  they  ought. 

At  their  funerals  open  house  was  kept  and  feasting  mingled 
with  dirges  and  lamentation.  Chiefs  were  often  carried  long  dis- 
tances to  be  interred  with  their  ancestors.  James  the  ninth  earl  of 
Desmond,  slain  at  Rathkeele  in  Limerick  in  1487,  Avas  buried  at 
Xoughall  more  than  a  hundred  miles  away.  These  ancestral  tombs 
were  generally  selected  for  dais  and  other  gatherings,  civil  and  mili- 
tary, the  memory  of  the  dead  being  perpetuated  by  the  games,  marts 
and  marriages  of  the  living.  Great  respect  was  paid  to  places  of  sep- 
ulture. The  traveller  about  the  island  is  frequently  reminded  of  hon- 
ored names  by  inscriptions  on  dilapidated  monuments  of  ancient 
date  crowding  some  ruined  chapel  or  long  neglected  church-yard. 

These  customs  and  manners  became  greatly  modified  after  the  in- 
vasion, but  they  were  the  groundwork  of  the  Irish  social  system  to  a 
much  later  period  nor  have  they  yet  wholly  disappeared.  Whoever 
cares  to  understand  the  subject  thoroughly  must  read  Curry's  lectures. 
Our  purpose  is  simply  to  point  the  way.  What  has  been  said  will 
only  stimulate  curiosity  to  resort  to  the  fountain  head  for  rich  stores 
of  knowledge  which  Avill  not  disappoint  expectation.  INIuch  in  rela- 
tion to  the  habits  of  the  Irish  later,  will  find  a  place  as  we  proceed. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  125 

XVIII. 

IRELAND    UNDER    THE    RLANTAGENETS. 

In  our  earlier  cliapters  the  historical  events  connected  with  the  in- 
vasion were  recalled  to  the  reader.  Its  easy  and  early  success  was 
explained  by  the  political  state  of  the  island,  divided  amongst  many 
independent  septs  and  chieftains  comparatively  powerless  to  cope, 
even  if  united,  with  soldiers  trained  in  the  best  schools  of  war- 
fare, better  armed  and  equipped,  and  drawing  their  reinforcements 
and  supplies  across  the  channel  frt)m  a  nation  vastly  superior  in 
numbers  and  resources.  Some  account  Avas  attempted  of  the  more 
prominent  leaders,  and  the  share  each  I'cceived  of  the  spoil.  It  was 
shown,  how,  establishing  themselves  in  the  seaports  long  occupied 
exclusively  by  Danes  and  other  strangers,  tliey  contrived  to  preserve 
and  extend  their  conquests  by  more  thorough  military  discipline,  and 
occasionally  by  their  favorite  policy  of  stirring  up  strife  among  the 
septs,  of  dividing  in  order  to  conquer.  We  then  endeavored  to 
group  in  forms  convenient  for  reference  all  that  local  and  family  lore, 
Avhatever  concerns  the  political,  intellectual  and  social  condition  of  the 
country  in  early  times,  without  some  knowledge  of  which  its  history 
is  a  puzzle.  Resuming  the  narrative  at  the  close  of  the  first  century 
from  the  landing,  at  the  death  of  Henry  the  Tliird,  we  pursue  the 
course  of  events  bearing  on  our  subject  down  to  the  epoch  when  the 
battle  of  Bosworth  transferred  the  Enolish  crown  from  Plantajrenet 
to  Tudor. 

Even  in  the  early  period  of  occupation  the  pressure  of  English 
power  was  not  constant,  and  when  02:)portunity  offered  the  septs  re- 
sumed possession  of  their  territories,  driving  out  the  intruders.  In 
Ulster,  except  near  the  eastern  shore  in  Antrim  and  Down,  the 
English  retained  no  foothold  ;  and  in  Munster,  McCarthy  More  con- 
fined them  to  their  castles.  Hugh  O'Connor  of  Connaught,  after 
defeating  the  English   under  De  Burgh   at   Moynise  in  1270,  with 


126  TEANSFER     OF     EEIN. 

great  slaughter,  reduced  Eoscommon,  which  with  Athlone,  Rath- 
done,  Carrickfergus  and  otlier  cities  along  shore  were  their  principal 
strongholds,  demolishing  that  and  destroying  other  of  their  settlements. 

Under  a  grant  of  Thomond,  from  Edward  the  First  Thomas  de 
Clare  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  and  whose  wife  Juliana  was 
daughter  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  taking  advantage  of  a  disputed  suc- 
cession between  two  of  the  O'Briens,  made  his  way  into  the  country 
and  erected  fortifications.  Beset  by  the  exasperated  clans  whom  he 
sought  to  subject,  from  jealousy  or  an  ebullition  of  temper  he  cruelly 
murdered  Brian  Roe  O'Brien,  wlio  had  befriended  him,  and  to  Avhom 
he  was  indebted  for  what  measure  of  success  had  attended  his  enter- 
prise, ordering  him  to  be  torn  asunder  by  horses.  In  1280  when 
captured  with  his  father-in-law  by  the  O'Briens,  no  other  repara- 
tion was  exacted  of  him  but  the  surrender  of  Roscommon.  He  died 
1286,  and  thirty  years  later,  two  of  his  sons  being  defeated  and  slain, 
the  remaining  members  of  his  family,  burning  Bunratty  Castle  which 
they  had  erected  for  their  abode,  quitted  Thomond  never  to  return. 

John  Fitz  Geffroi,  in  1266  justiciary  for  the  third  time,  obtained 
a  orant  of  the  Barony  of  Islands  in  Clare,  seventy  thousand  acres. 
In  1281  the  O'Neils,  aided  by  the  English,  defeated  the  O'Donnels 
at  Desertcreigh  in  Tyrone.  De  Burgh,  two  years  later,  invaded 
Ulster,  but  in  1285  was  overcome  by  the  men  of  Connaught  at  Ballys- 
adare,  sustaining  great  loss.  The  endeavors  of  O'Hanlon  and 
McMahon  to  expel  the  intruders  were  attended  with  partial  success, 
and  McLaghlin  of  Meath  defeated  and  slew  Richard  Tuite  the  great 
baron.  The  O'Connors  of  Offuly  sacked  the  Castle  of  Kildare. 
At  a  later  period,  in  1305,  their  chiefs,  invited  to  a  banquet  at  the 
Castle  of  Sir  Pierce  Birmingham,  were  massacred.  Birmingham 
was  arraigned  for  the  crime,  but  no  justice  was  done.  He  was 
soon  after  defeated  at  Ballymore.  The  hard  fought  battle  of  Glen- 
fel  was  won  by  Mandeville,  but  the  O'Byrnes  and  O'Tooles  gained 
a  decisive  victory  at  Glendalough. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIX.  127 

The  presence  within  their  borders  of  a  power  ever  aggressive  l:)re(l 
distrust  and  stirred  np  strife  among  the  septs  and  sometimes  from 
temper  or  jealousy,  often  through  the  ingenious  machinations  of 
the  stranger,  they  imbrued  their  hands  in  fraternal  blood.  Their  laws 
ceasing  to  restrain  their  passions  when  aroused,  their  only  recourse 
was  the  arbitrament  of  arms.  The  English  had  their  quarrels,  but 
the  royal  authority  was  invoked  to  adjust  them,  or  interposed  with 
its  strong  arm.  Under  weak  kings  it  was  less  respected,  and  the  red 
earl  of  Ulster  from  his  castle  of  Trim  set  at  defiance  Piers  de  Gove- 
ston  at  Dublin  who  proved  an  over  active  governor,  but  in  1311  the 
earl  was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  in  Thomond  by  Richard  De 
Clare  at  the  head  of  the  Geraldines.  De  Wogan  sent  again  as  gov- 
ernor, found  Deverdon  as  troublesome  as  the  Byrnes  and  O'Tooles. 
De  Yerdon  had  inherited  half  of  Meath  from  his  mother  Margaret 
heiress  of  Walter  Lacy.  This  turbulent  lord  of  both  parliaments 
and  viceroy  in  1314  married  Elizabeth  De  Clare  after  the  death  of 
her  first  husband  son  of  the  earl  of  Ulster.  Plis  death  took  place 
in  1317  and  his  four  daughters,  one  Isabel  by  his  second  wife,  carried 
his  moity  of  Meath  into  the  families  of  Furnival  Burghersh,  Dever- 
eux  and  Ferrers. 

After  the  battle  of  Bannockburn,  1314,  Edward  Bruce,  brother 
of  King  Robert,  was  invited  to  become  king  of  Ireland.  Robert's 
wife  was  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster  :  her  sisters  married  Fitz- 
geralds  of  Offaly  and  Desmond,  De  Clare  and  Multon.  De 
Lacys  and  De  Bissets  lent  aid  to  the  project,  but  soon  sought  pardon 
for  their  imprudence  and  returned  to  their  allegiance.  Ulster  gath- 
ered an  army,  but  lost  it  at  Coleraine  where  the  Scots  gained  a  deci- 
sive victory.  Felim  O'Connor  of  Connaught  at  first  took  sides 
against  Bruce,  but  after  defeating  his  kinsman  Roderick,  who  sought 
to  supplant  him  with  his  sept,  he  went  with  his  countrymen,  nearly 
all  of  whom  favored  and  sustained  the  movement.  They  were  pro- 
foundly disgusted  with  English  rule,   of  which  the  manifest  policy 


128  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

was  to  dispossess  them  of  their  lands  and  subject  them  to  servitude. 
In  an  admirable  address  to  the  Pope,  signed  by  the  O'Neil  and  other 
chiefs,  they  state  that  they  were  treated  as  enemies,  not  subjects; 
that  any  Englishman  might  take  the  huv  against  an  Irishman,  but 
if  he  killed  an  Irishman,  falsely  and  perfidiously,  as  often  happened, 
he  could  not  be  brought  before  the  English  tribunals.  They  had 
urged  on  Edward  I.  the  extension  to  them  of  the  laws  of  England, 
and  though  the  king  had  consented  the  measure  had  come  to  naught 
from  the  opposition  of  the  English  settlers. 

Bruce  Avas  one  of  their  own  race.'  For  two  years  he  was  eminent- 
ly fortunate,  defeating  the  English  forces  on  eighteen  battle-fields. 
His  brother  Robert  joined  him  from  Scotland,  and  they  marched  into 
Connaught.  Circumstances  seemed  propitious,  for  Edward  the  Sec- 
ond was  a  weak  king,  and  the  nation  apparently  of  one  mind.  But 
when  all  promised  success,  Robert  was  called  back  to  Scotland,  dis- 
putes arose  among  the  chiefs,  and  the  Irish  having  wasted  their 
streng-th  in  mutual  slaughter  were  defeated  with  great  loss  at  the 
fatal  battle  of  Athenry,  helped  by  Birminghams  and  De  Burghs. 
After  waiting  in  vain  for  happier  auspices,  Edward  Bruce  marched  to 
meet  the  English  forces,  and  fell  at  the  battle  of  Faughard  near  Dun- 
dalk  in  1318.  Thus  faded  away  for  Ireland  the  hope  of  escape,  by 
uniting  the  two  branches  of  the  Milesian  race  against  foreign  domi- 
nation, from  a  connection  she  had  every  reason  to  dread.  The  event 
gave  strength  and  stability  for  a  time  to  English  rule,  but  even  in  the 
ten  counties  and  liberties  it  was  mostly  nominal,  the  preponderance 
of  the  natives  setting  at  naught  any  eflfort  to  molest  them.  The 
power  of  the  kings  of  Connaught,  however,  was  broken  at  Athenry, 
their  territories  after  a  few  generations  being  divided  between  two 
branches  of  the  race,  O'Connors  Don  and  O'Connors  Roe. 

1  In  1240  Robt'vt  Bruce,  grandfather  of  Robert  and  Edward,  married  Ii^abcl  De  Clare  de- 
scended from  Eva. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  129 


XIX. 


REIGN    OF    EDWARD    III. 

If  sire  and  son  of  the  second  Edward  were  energetic  monarchs, 
his  own  weak  and  vacillating  character  brought  contempt  on  royal 
station.  Governed  by  worthless  favorites,  overawed  by  turbulent 
barons,  he  was  dethroned  and  murdered  at  Berkeley  castle  in  1327  at 
the  instigation  of  his  queen  and  her  paramour  Roger  Mortimer.  At 
Bannockburn  in  1314  had  ended  all  hope  of  adding  Scotland  to  his 
realm,  and  though  at  Faughard  Edward  Bruce  proved  less  fortunate 
than  liis  brotlier,  the  island  was  not  subdued  and  hardly  more  de- 
pendent on  the  English  crown.  Two  years  after  the  latter  combat 
O'Connors  and  McDermots,  near  neighbors,  were  at  war  in  Con- 
naught.  Roderick  king  after  Feidlim  had  been  killed  by  Cathal,  who 
in  turn  yielded  life  and  throne  to  his  kinsman  Turlogh.  English  in 
Meath  defeated  O'Connors  of  OfFaly  and  in  Tliomond  were  put  to 
rout  by  Brian  O'Brien.  MacGinnis  of  Fermanagh,  Ferrals  in 
Analy,  Rourkes,  Reillys  and  O'Neils  were  rioting  in  mutual  blood- 
shed, and  Geraldines  in  Desmond  were  vanquished  by  McCarthies  as 
disastrously  as  sixty  years  before  at  Callan. 

The  English  among  themselves  were  restless  and  quarrelsome. 
Grasping  and  domineering,  like  birds  of  prey  they  pounced  down 
upon  whoever  were  weak,  their  allies  of  to-day  being  their  enemies  on 
the  morrow.  There  was,  perhaps,  often  more  of  policy  than  temper 
in  their  course.  The  Geraldines  with  Butlers  and  Birminghams 
warred  with  Powers  and  De  Burghs.  Talbots  and  Birminghams 
were  butchered  by  Gernons  and  Savages,  Bodnets  and  Condons  by 
Barrvs  and  Roches.  Fiohtin^:,  indeed,  was  the  business  of  life  at 
the  period,  not  in  Ireland  alone,  but  in  England,  France  and  every- 
where else.  Bermingham  had  been  created  earl  of  Louth  in  reward 
for  conquering  Edward  Bruce.  At  his  death  in  1330,  when  he  was 
17 


130  TRANSFER     or     ERIN. 

slain  by  his  own  countrymen,  his  earldom  became  extinct,  and  three 
years  later  that  of  Ulster  passed  away  from  the  De  Burghs. 

When  Bruce  in  1315  set  up  his  standard,  Richard  red  earl  of 
Ulster  and  father-in-law  of  king  Robert  rallied  an  army  to  stay  his 
progress.  When  repulsed  his  defeat  was  attributed  by  himself  to 
the  defection  of  Feidlim  O'Connor.  But  his  haughty  rejection  of  help 
from  Edmund  Butler  exciting  suspicion  of  his  own  disaffection,  the 
mayor  of  Dublin  arrested  him  at  his  abode  in  that  city,  and  when  set 
at  liberty  by  Roger  Mortimer  sent  over  to  assume  command,  he  was 
watched.  Feeling  the  approach  of  infirmity  in  1326,  he  sumptuous- 
ly entertained  his  kindred  and  friends  at  Trim,  and  formally 
surrendering  his  estates  to  his  grandson  William,  son  of  John  and 
Elizabeth  de  Clare,  entered  the  cloister  at  Athassel,  where  William 
Fitzadelim  his  first  Irish  ancestor  and  the  founder  of  the  family  had 
been  interred.  Upon  his  death  soon  after,  this  grandson,  known  as 
the  dun  earl,  succeeding  to  his  honors  inherited  with  the  earldom  one 
fourth  the  island.  Gal  way  and  Trim  were  the  chief  abodes  of  the  De 
Burghs,  but  Bally  mote,  Corran,  Sligo,  Castleconnel  and  green  castles 
at  Carlingford  Bay  and  Lough  Foyle  were  other  of  their  strongholds. 
The  annual  revenue  of  what  they  actually  possessed  of  this  vast 
territory  had  exceeded  ten  thousand  pounds. 

The  young  earl  under  these  extraordinary  responsibilities  was 
active  and  enterprising  but  unfortunate.  With  Turlogh  king  of 
Connaught,  and  Mortogh  king  of  Munster,  he  joined  in  an  attack 
upon  Brian  Bane  O'Brien,  but  they  were  badly  defeated.  He  was 
accused  of  starving  to  death  one  of  his  kinsmen,  and  this  is  said  to 
have  been  the  provocation  which  led  to  his  own  taking  off.  His  dis- 
position if  exhibiting  many  generous  traits  was  imperious,  and  when 
his  kinsman  Walter  for  some  wrong  to  the  earl's  mother  was  suffered 
by  him  to  die  of  starvation  in  his  red  castle  at  Inishowen,  Mande- 
ville  under  the  influence  of  his  wife,  sister  of  the  victim,  watching 
his  opportunity  slew  him  as  they  were  riding  together  to  mass  at 


I 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  131 

CaiTickfergus.  His  infant  heiress  by  IVIaud,  (laughter  of  the  earl 
of  Lancaster  and  Maud  Chaworth,  by  her  marriage  with  Lionel 
son  of  the  third  Edward,  transmitted,  as  already- stated,  Ulster  and 
Connaught  through  the  Mortimers  to  the  crown  a  century  later  in 
the  person  of  the  fourth. 

Offshoots  from  the  race  of  the  De  Burghs  descended  from  the 
brother  of  the  first  earl  according  to  Lodfje,  but  sons  of  the  red 
earl  to  the  annalists,  claimed  the  estates  as  male  fiefs  by  Irish 
tenure,  taking  respectively  William  the  name  or  title  of  Mac 
William  Oughter  of  Clanrickard,  Edmund  that  of  JNIac  William 
Eighter  or  the  lower  of  Mayo.  In  the  existing  state  of  the  country 
even  the  crown  was  powerless  to  resent  this  intrusion,  and  possession 
somewhat  shorn  of  its  original  pretensions  and  with  many  vicissitudes 
has  continued  with  little  interruption  to  the  present  day  in  their  de- 
scendants. The  O'Neils  resumed  Clannaboy  in  Antrim,  portions  of 
which  about  Shanes  Castle  remain  in  that  namcj  nearly  all  the  re- 
sidue of  its  ancient  domains  in  Ulster  having  long  since  passed  to  the 
stranger. 

Disputes  arose  over  the  spoils  of  the  late  earl,  between  two 
Burkes  named  Edmund,  and  one  drowned  the  other  in  Lough  Mask. 
Turlogh  O'Connor  thereupon  drove  the  Burkes  and  English  gener- 
ally out  of  Connaught.  Unfortunately  Turlogh  was  not  proof 
against  feminine  enticements.  Enamored  of  the  widow  of.  the 
drowned  Edmund,  daughter  of  his  brother  king  of  Thomond,  and 
repudiating  Dervail  O'Donnel,  his  lawful  spouse,  "whom  no  woman 
of  that  race  prolific  in  female  excellence  surpassed  in  goodness,"  he  took 
her  instead.  He  did  not  keep  her  long,  for  indeed  both  wives  died 
the  same  year  in  1343.  Kor  was  he  otherwise  prosperous.  The  Sil 
Murray,  MacDermots  of  Moylurg,  O'Rourkes  and  Burkes  rose  against 
him,  and  with  the  chief  of  Tirconnel  who  was  incensed  at  the  wrono- 
to  his  daughter,  set  up  Hugh  son  of  Hugh  son  of  Cathal  as 
king,  with  Hugh  son  of  Felim  for  tanist.     He  was  reinstated,  and 


132  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

"vvlien  slain  in  1345  his  own  son  Hugh  took  his  place.  Hugh  was 
deposed  by  the  tanist  in  1351,  but  restored  the  next  year.  Unfor- 
tunately endowed  with  the  fatal  jDroclivities  of  his  father  he  abducted 
in  1356  the  wife  of  O'Kelly  of  Hy-Many,  and  dethroned  the  tanist 
Hugh  reigned  in  his  stead.  This  king  foremost  among  his  countrymen 
for  valor  and  prowess,  seems  to  have  inspired  their  confidence,  though 
in  1362  he  burned  fourteen  churches  in  Kilkenny  and  Meath  used  by 
the  English  as  fortresses.  His  last  warlike  expedition  was  with  Mac 
William  of  Mayo  and  William  O'Kelly  against  Clanrickard,  from 
which  he  returned  triumphant,  and  when  two  years  later  in  1368  he 
died  after  penance  at  Roscommon,  another  Roderick  son  of  Turlogh 
ascended  the  throne  by  consent  of  the  people.  These  successive  trans- 
fers of  the  supreme  authority  in  Connaught  aiford  some  insight  into 
the  working  of  brehon  institutions. 

Other  earldoms,  destined  from  the  powder  and  influence  which  at- 
tached to  them  to  further  English  ascendancy,  were  created  at  this 
period.  John  Fitzgerald  in  1316  was  made  earl  of  Kildare.  Two 
contradictory  versions  of  the  wager  of  battle  which  transferred  to  him 
from  Yesci  a  large  part  of  what  is  now  the  county  of  that  name,  are 
given  by  Hollinshed  and  Gilbert,  and  probably  neither  is  correct. 
In  1327,  James  Butler  on  his  marriage  with  Eleanor  de  Bohun  was 
created  earl  of  Ormond,  and  in  1329  Maurice  Fitzgerald  earl  of 
Desmond,  and  for  several  centuries  earls  of  Ormond,  Kildare  and 
Desmond  were  principal  powers  in  the  land.  They  signalized  their 
new  rank  by  expeditions  against  their  neighbors,  selecting  their  op- 
portunity so  as  to  guard  against  defeat. 

The  matrimonial  alliances  of  the  De  Burghs  and  Butler  with  the 
royal  family  of  England  became  too  important  an  element  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  island  to  be  overlooked.  From  Joan 
d' Acres,  born  to  Edward  the  First  on  his  crusade,  wife  of  Gilbert 
De  Clai'C,  earl  of  Gloucester,  descended  Elizabeth  De  Burgh  the 
heiress    of   Ulster.       Joan's    sister   Elizabeth    married    Humphrey 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN,  133 

de  Boliun,  eurl  of  Hereford,  and  their  daughter  Eleanor  James 
earl  of  Ormond,  who  in  consequence  of  this  alliance  was  made 
lord  palatine  of  Tipperary.  Their  daughter  espoused  Gerald 
the  poet,  fourth  Earl  of  Desmond,  and  their  descendants  thus 
transmitted  the  blood  of  the  Plantagenets,  of  Charlemagne  and 
Alfred  to  most  of  the  nding  fivmilies  of  Ireland, — English  and  Irish. 
Eor  the  first  earl  of  Desmond,  son  of  Thomas  Simiacus  so  called 
from  a  domesticated  ape  having  carried  him  an  infant  in  12 GO,  up  to 
the  battlements  of  the  castle  of  Tralee,  after  his  fsither  and  grand- 
father Avere  slain  by  the  McCarthies  at  Callan,  Kerry  had  been 
created  in  1330  a  palatinate.  It  was  the  eighth  so  constituted,  with 
power  to  make  barons  and  knights,  establish  courts,  choose  judcfes 
and  sheriffs,  and  within  their  limits  the  king's  writ  did  not  run.  As 
their  jurisdiction  could  not  be  maintained  over  tlie  septs,  it  was  limit- 
ed, but  the  ]Munster  Geraldines  gaining  gradually  in  power,  their 
court  at  Tralee  was  said  later  to  have  been  better  administered  than 
that  of  the  king  at  Dublin,  and  was  attended  by  both  races.  Lands 
ecclesiastical,  called  the  crosses,  had  sheriffs  of  their  own  and  their 
tenants  Avere  subject  to  special  regulations. 

These  tribunals,  with  their  conflicting  modes  and  process,  gov- 
erned by  common  law  and  statute,  march  law  and  usage,  bred 
confusion.  Attached  though  they  were  to  th*eir  own  ancestral  code, 
greater  uniformity  was  to  be  wished,  and  the  Irish,  who  when  with- 
in reach  of  the  English  law  were  subjected  to  its  oppressions  without 
enjoying  its  benefits,  would  gladly  have  seen  it  universal.  The  pro- 
tection extended  to  the  five  bloods,  O'Xeils,  O'Connors,  O'Briens, 
Cavanaghs  and  McLaghlins,  was  very  naturally  coveted  by  the  rest. 
The  request  to  the  first  Edward  and  his  grandson  for  its  extension 
led  to  an  ordinance  of  Parliament  that  there  should  be  one  and  the 
same  law  for  both  races.  It  was  frustrated  by  landholders,  who 
recognized  in  their  own  race  alone  any  rights  to  be  respected. 
Where    they  could    with   impunity,    they    shot   down    the    Irish  as 


134  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

game  upon  the  mountains,  despoiling  tliem  of  their  cattle, 
their  lands  or  their  children,  leaving  no  redress  but  retaliation. 
That  these  atrocities  engendered  no  implacable  animosity  can  only 
be  explained  by  the  lawless  state  of  the  country  and  incessant  war- 
fare. Memory  of  them,  even  when  preserved  in  the  cloister, 
passed  out  of  mind  among  the  people,  and  each  generation,  as  it 
succeeded,  received  what  existed  as  the  natural  condition  of  affairs, 
and,  powerless  to  improve,  acquiesced  in  what  could  not  be  remedied. 

Our  Salem  witchcraft  of  1691  finds  curious  parallel  at  this  period 
in  Irish  history.  Practice  of  the  black  art  in  various  lands  having 
provoked  papal  decrees  against  sorcery  from  John  XXII.,  the  bishop 
of  Ossory  professed  to  discover  sorcerers  in  his  diocese,  and  among 
them  Alice  le  Kyttler  who  from  her  four  husbands  and  her  own  in- 
heritance had  derived  a  plentiful  fortune.  Three  thousand  pounds 
entrusted  to  her  son  William  Outlaw  for  safe  keeping  had  been 
buried  in  his  garden  at  Kilkenny,  but  carried  oif  by  the  sheriiF  and 
confiscated  to  the  king  as  treasure  trove.  Her  efforts  to  recover 
her  property  led  in  1325  to  charges  against  her  and  twelve  other  per- 
sons her  accomplices  of  denying  Christ,  sacrificing  to  demons,  ob- 
taining from  them  revelations,  profaning  the  sacred  offices,  andprac- 
tisinsi:  incantations.  It  was  further  alleoed  against  Alice  that  she 
had  compassed  the  deafh  of  her  three  first  husbands  after  procuring 
them  to  leave  her  their  estates,  reduced  her  surviving  husband  Sir 
John  le  Power  to  a  miserable  condition  by  her  powders  and  oint- 
ments, and  held  unholy  intercourse  with  Robert  Arturson  "one  of 
the  poorer  sort  of  hell." 

As  the  lord  chancellor  kinsman  to  Outlaw  and  Arnold  le  Poer 
seneschal  of  Kilkenny  were  her  friends,  Dalrede  the  bishop  pro- 
ceeded with  some  hesitation.  The  accused  claimed  to  be  heard 
by  counsel,  but  when  the  bishop  overruling  her  plea  was  about 
to  arrest  her,  the  seneschal  seized  upon  him  and  held  him  in 
confinement  till  the  return  day  was  past.     Alice  disappeared.     The 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN.  135 

angry  prelate  being  set  free  placed  his  diocese  under  an  interdict,  but 
came  off  second  best  in  the  quarrel.  He  was  sued  for  defamation, 
excommunicated,  imprisoned  till  1328  in  the  castle  at  Dublin,  and 
later  accused  of  the  same  crime  himself  was  compelled  to  escape  into 
Italy.  All  the  witches  had  not  been  so  fortunate  as  Alice.  One 
Petronilla  of  Meath,  confessing  under  torture  and  accusing  her  mis- 
tress was  flogged  and  burnt  as  were  others  of  "her  pestiferous  society." 
Some  were  whipped  in  the  market  place,  a  few  banished.  We  are 
more  enlightened  now,  sorcery  has  become  a  lucrative  profession 
patronized  by  our  educated  classes. 

Some  idea  may  be  gathered  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  people 
from  what  affected  its  chiefs.  In  the  north-east  corner  Hugh  lord 
of  Th'connel,  Kinelmoen,  Inishowen,  Fermanagh  and  Brefnev, 
eminent  for  his  laws  and  their  administration,  hospitality  and 
munificence,  after  reigning  half  a  century  died  in  1333,  vic- 
torious over  the  world  and  the  devil.  He  had  assumed  the  habit  of 
a  monk,  a  custom  not  unusual  upon  approaching  dissolution,  as  in 
the  instance  just  related  of  the  earl  of  Ulster.  His  sons  contested 
the  succession.  Conor  slew  his  brother  Art,  and  in  1342  met  his 
own  fate  from  Xial,  who  driven  out  by  Angus  was  made  way  with  by 
Manus  in  1348,  as  was  also  Angus  five  years  afterward.  Felim 
son  of  Hugh  was  killed  in  1357  by  John  son  of  Conor,  who  in 
1380  fell  at  Assaroe  in  combat  with  Turlogh  son  of  Xial.  In 
Tyi'one  after  Donnel  expelled  by  the  English  in  1325  reioned 
Hugh,  "  best  of  his  time,  and  bearing  the  palm  for  humanity,  hos- 
pitality and  valor."  Nial  his  son  followed  in  1364,  and  when  he 
died  in  1397  he  is  described  "as  aspirant  for  the  Irish  crown,  pillar 
of  the  dignity  and  preeminence  of  his  own  principality,  destructive 
to  the  English,  uniting  his  own  countrymen,  exalting  the  church 
and  the  sciences." 

Strange  to  say  Brian  Bane,  grandson  of  the  chief  cruelly  murdered 
in  1277  by  Thomas  De  Clare,  commanded  the  native  auxiliaries  of 


136  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Eichard  de  Clare  in  1318  at  Dysart,  which  fatally  terminated  the  in- 
trusion of  that  family  into  Thomond.  Banished  cast  of  the  Shannon 
by  his  victorious  kinsman,  his  branch  known  later  as  the  Mac  I'Brien 
Ara  became  powerful,  he  himself  till  the  middle  of  the  century 
taking  active  part  in  military  operations,  When  Mortogh  after 
ruling  thirty-two  years  died  in  1343,  Brian  succeeded  to  the  crown 
and  seven  years  later  he  was  slain  by  the  sons  of  Lorcan.  Dermod 
brother  of  Mortogh  reigned  fourteen  years,  and  then  the  son 
of  that  chief,  Mahon  Moinmoy,  who  in  1369  made  way  for  his 
own  son  another  Brian,  Cathan  an  Oinaigh,  rivalling  Brian  Boru 
in  stature  and  vigor.  He  defeated  the  English  in  Munster, 
taking  the  earl  of  Desmond  captive,  and  burnt  Limerick  and  ex- 
acted black  rent  throughout  Munster.  He  made  close  alliance  with 
the  Burkes  of  Clanrickard,  and  gave  to  their  chief  his  daughter  in 
marriage.  He  was  one  of  the  four  kings  entertained  by  Richard 
the  second  at  Dublin,  and  after  a  reign  of  forty  years  ended  his 
life  with  the  century. 

In  1328  Donald  McMorough,  representative  of  the  ancient  king 
of  Leinster,  then  for  the  most  part  regained  by  McMoroughs  and 
O'Moores,  declaring  his  right  to  its  throne  and  marshalling  his  clan, 
Desmond  and  O'Brien  attacked  him  and  his  allies,  O'Nolans  and 
O'Dempsys.  He  was  taken  prisoner,  but  escaped  from  the  tower 
by  means  of  a  rope  provided  for  him  by  Adam  Nangle  who  was 
executed  for  his  generosity.  Other  chieftans  were  more  fortunate. 
The  Mageoghan  gained  a  complete  victory  over  Thomas  Butler,  who 
was  slain  with  one  hundred  and  forty  men  at  Mullingar.  O'Brians 
burnt  Athassel,  Bunratty  and  Tipperary.  Inasmuch  as  both  races 
were  represented  on  either  side  of  many  hostile  encounters  at  this  pe- 
riod, neither  could  claim  any  special  glory,  and  both  were  equally 
responsible  for  the  inhumanities  of  war.  An  English  army  with 
auxiliary  septs  invaded  Clancuilen,  subduing  Macnamara  and  burning 
a  church  and  one  huudreJ  and  eighty  persons  who  had  taken  refuge 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  137 

therein.  Another  under  Desmond  in  1339,  overcame  the  men  of 
Kerry  slaying  twelve  hundred  of  them.  Among  the  prisoners  was 
Maurice  Fitz  Maurice,  fourth  baron  of  Kerry,  who  Avas  fighting  on 
the  side  of  the  native  chiefs.  This  is  the  more  remarkable  that  havin": 
been  attainted  for  some  atrocious  deed  of  violence  in  1325,  he  had 
murdered  Desmond  son  of  McCarthy  More  in  the  court  room  at 
Tralee. 

Farther  south  there  were  few  incidents  to  be  recorded.  Three 
Donals  successively  McCarthy  More  maintained  their  ascendency, 
intermarrying  with  the  Geraldines  of  Kerry  and  Kildare,  and 
branches  of  the  race  under  them  ruled  over  Duhallow,  Carberry 
and  Muskerry.  O'Donoghues  kings  of  Lougli  Lene  were  para- 
mount about  Killarney,  Sullivans  in  Dunkerron,  at  Beare  and  Ban- 
try.  O'Driscolls,  Mahonys,  Callaghans  and  Donovans  being  rarely 
molested  retained  in  peace  their  laws,  customs  and  possessions. 
Nearer  the  centre  hostilities  were  of  more  frequent  occurrence. 
O'Carrols,  O'Reillys,  Mac  Mahons  and  Cavanaghs  possibly  from 
motives  of  policy  kept  the  country  in  a  turmoil  to  discourage  Eng- 
lish settlement,  and  the  English  on  their  part  addicted  themselves  to 
strife  that  they  might  be  ready  to  defend  what  they  had. 

Edward  dissatisfied  that  his  subjects  should  squander  blood  and 
treasure  needed  for  the  successful  prosecution  of  his  wars  in  France, 
issued  a  decree  that  all  lands  granted  by  his  father  or  himself  should 
be  resumed.  It  was  easier  even  for  him,  though  sufficiently  strong 
in  purpose,  to  order  than  to  accomplish,  and  what  were  seized  he  was 
compelled  to  restore.  However  eager  for  contention  with  Irish  sept 
or  their  own  countrymen,  the  English  banded  together  as  one  for 
their  own  security,  and  were  too  remote  to  be  much  endangered. 

Growing  independence  of  the  crown  excited  the  jealousy  of  its 

representatives  and  led  to  a  distinction   between  those  of  English 

birth  and  English  blood.     Edward    the   Third,  in  1342,  instructed 

Darcy  his  justiciary  to  remove  from  official  position  whoever  had 

18 


138  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

married  or  held  lands  only  in  Ireland,  and  replace  them  by  such  as 
having  estates  in  England  were  more  within  reach  of  the  royal  dis- 
pleasure. A  long  course  of  similar  orders  and  decrees,  as  well  as  of 
acts  of  legislation,  proved  how  utterly  ineffectual  such  measures  were 
to  prevent  what  they  prohibited. 

The  resentment  provoked  by  this  interference  with  the  estates  of 
the  great  landholders,  to  whom  the  crown  was  indebted  for  what  hold 
it  still  retained  of  the  island,  was  not  easily  appeased.  Refusing  to 
attend  the  parliament  called  by  Darcy  at  Dublin  they  assembled  at 
Kilkenny,  and  with  Desmond  to  preside  over  them  passed  a  remon- 
strance to  the  king  inveighing  against  the  maladministration  and  ex- 
tortion of  the  government  officials.  It  was  attributed  to  their  ra- 
pacity that  the  royal  revenues  had  become  reduced  and  many  arbi- 
trary measures  against  loyal  subjects,  exactions  and  imprisonments 
without  cause  were  enumerated.  The  change  of  policy  wrought  by 
this  spirited  opposition,  and  conciliatory  answer  of  the  king  served 
to  allay  the  growing  disaffection .  When  Dufford  as  deputy  summoned 
another  parliament  in  1345  the  barons  still  kept  aloof,  and  Desmond 
called  an  opposition  meeting  at  Callan  which  from  apprehension  of 
possible  consequences  was  not  so  largely  attended.  The  deputy 
marched  into  Munster,  issued  orders  that  the  estates  of  the  earl 
should  be  seized  and  his  rents  distrained  into  the  exchequer.  He 
contrived  to  gain  possession  of  the  castles  of  Inniskelly  and  Castle- 
maine  and  hung  Poer,  Grant  and  Cottrell  their  warders.  The  earl 
surrendering  gave  bonds  for  peaceable  behavior,  but  not  submitting  to 
the  imperious  commands  of  the  governor,  his  bail  given  in  1333  was 
declared  forfeited  and  his  bondsmen,  more  than  a  score  in  number, 
were  reduced  to  poverty.  Some  years  after  when  he  had  regained 
the  royal  favor  by  submission  and  surrender,  their  sequestered  es- 
tates were  restored  in  most  instances,  though  some  of  them  were 
irretrievably  ruined.  Dufford  summoned  Thomas  earl  of  Kildare  to 
join  him  with  his  forces,   sending  at  the  same  time  Burton  with  a 


TRANSFER     OT     ERIN.  139 

writ  to  arrest  him.  His  followers  gathered  too  speedily  for  his  ar- 
rest to  be  effected,  but  Burton  persuading  Kildare  to  accompany  him 
to  Dublin  he  was  there  seized  in  the  council  chamber  and  kept  in 
close  confinement. 

To  meet  the  vast  expenditures  of  his  wars  in  France  soon  after 
the  battle  of  Cressy  both  laity  and  clergy  were  taxed  by  Edward, 
and  in  both  kingdoms  the  latter  refused  to  pay,  Ralph  O'Kelly  arch- 
bishop of  Tuam  with  his  suffragans  issued  a  decree,  that  any 
beneficed  clergyman  in  their  dioceses  who  paid  the  tax  should  be 
deprived  and  incapable  of  future  preferment.  They  presented  them- 
selves in  their  pontifical  robes  in  the  streets  of  Clonmel  and  excom- 
municated the  royal  commissioner  and  his  subordinate  tax  gatherers. 
When  informations  were  exhibited  against  them  they  pleaded  magna 
charta  that  the  church  should  be  exempt  from  taxation.  It  was  ruled 
against  them,  but  they  were  not  farther  molested. 

The  clash  of  arms  was  not  incessant,  and  an  event  to  which  we 
have  already  had  occasion  to  allude  took  place  at  this  period. 
William  O'Kelly  when  sorely  beset  in  1340  by  his  enemies,  not 
knowing  he  was  beaten,  retrieved  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  gaining 
that  chieftainship  of  Hy-Many  in  Connaught  which  he  retained  for 
forty  years,  and  when  he  died  received  praise  from  the  annalists  for 
his  great  worth  and  preeminent  hospitality.  This  last  virtue  was 
signally  displayed  at  the  Christmas  holidays  of  1352  in  his  enter- 
tainment at  his  castle  near  Athlone  of  two  thousand  ollavs,  poets, 
brehons,  harpers  and  other  learned  men  that  chose  to  attend,  to  their 
great  content.  His  piety  was  equally  conspicuous  in  the  founda- 
tion the  next  year  of  Kilconnel  for  Franciscan  friars.  Amongst 
his  guests  at  his  memorable  festival  were  O'Dugan  his  own  his- 
torian, Davoran,  Mac  Firbis,  O'Curuin  of  Brefny,  Sgingan  of  Tyr- 
connel,  Mac  Egan,  O'Nain,  all  scholars  of  renown,  and  the  scarcely 
less  famous  minstrels  Finnaghty,  Conway  and  Mac  Carrol. 

When  in  September  1361   Lionel  the  Duke  of  Clarence  came 


140  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

over  as  deputy  and  issued  a  proclamation  that  the  old  English  should 
not  come  near  his  camp,  they  kept  away,  but  when  defeated  in 
Munster  he  rallied  them  back  to  his  standards.  He  seized  Art  Mac 
Morrogh  king  of  Leinster  and  his  son  in  their  own  residence  and 
while  in  prison  they  were  both  put  to  death.  After  an  arbitrary 
rule  of  three  years  he  was  recalled,  but  sent  back  a  third  time  in 
1367,  and  prompted  it  is  said  by  his  resentment  against  the  Burkes 
of  Counaught  for  withholding  the  inheritance  of  his  wife,  he  procured 
the  enactment  of  the  famous  statute  of  Kilkenny  already  men- 
tioned. This  law  constituted  intermarriages,  gossipred  or  fostering 
with  the  Irish,  adopting  or  submitting  to  Brehon  law,  treason.  As- 
suming an  Irish  name,  using  the  Irish  language,  apparel  or  customs, 
worked  forfeiture  of  estate.  The  act  further  forbade  the  English 
from  making  war  without  permission  of  the  government,  allowing 
Irish  to  pasture  cattle  on  their  lands,  admitting  them  to  benefices 
or  religious  houses,  or  entertaining  their  minstrels,  rhymers  or  news- 
tellers. 

These  unfriendly  dispositions  towards  the  septs,  expressed  in 
a  language  they  did  not  comprehend,  if  known  to  them  produced 
little  effect  and  went  soon  out  of  mind.  When  a  chief  was  inau- 
gurated, to  enure  them  to  their  vocation  of  war  he  led  his  new 
subjects  against  some  neighboring  sept  of  either  race  against  whom 
there  was  a  score  to  be  paid.  When  the  maraud  was  over,  little 
rancor  remained,  the  despoiled  biding  their  time  for  retaliation,  and 
their  general  policy  being  simply  to  dislodge  the  intruders. 

The  moral  sense  of  the  people  displayed  in  the  dethronement  of 
Turlogh  and  his  son  O'Connor  king  of  Connaught  twenty  years 
before  for  their  disregard  of  sacred  obligations  finds  another  example 
farther  north.  Brian  Mac  Mahon  lord  of  Oriel  in  1365  induced 
Sorley  prince  of  the  Hebrides  to  divorce  the  daughter  of  O'Reilly 
and  marry  his  own,  and  afterwards  drowned  his  son-in-law  when 
partaking  of  his  hospitalities.     All  the  other  chiefs  of  Ulster  confed- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN,  141 

erated  to  punish  him,  and  driven  in  disgrace  fi-om  Oriel  he  was  slain 
by  one  of  his  own  gallow-glasses. 

Two  years  later  when  William  de  Windsor  was  lord  lieutenant 
Gerald  Mac  Morrogh,  heir  presumptive  to  the  throne  of  Leinster, 
rallied  his  sept  but  was  slain  by  the  black  knight  an  Englishman  of 
Dublin,  and  Dermod  the  king  then  also  a  captive  was  put  to  death. 
O'Briens  and  O'Connors  defeated  and  slew  in  1370  the  earl  of  Des- 
mond and  several  of  his  principal  followers  and  captured  Lim- 
erick, placing  there  as  governor  the  chief  of  the  Macnamaras. 
That  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power  was  not  the  true  policy  for  Ire- 
land is  clear  from  its  effects.  Xearly  all  tlie  septs  were  in  revolt  or 
alienated  and  only  the  four  shires  about  Dublin  actually  under  royal 
authority.  When  Pembridge  was  selected  to  try  his  hand  as  gov- 
ernor he  absolutely  refused  the  responsibility,  and  successfully  con- 
troverted the  rioht  of  the  crown  to  send  him  aoainst  his  will.  De 
Windsor  reappointed  with  a  revenue  of  more  than  eleven  thousand 
pounds  effected  nothing,  and  was  not  even  able  to  approach  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  Ii'ish  chieftains. 

An  incident  is  related  by  the  annalists  of  Sir  Robert  Savage  of 
Ards  in  Down  which  speaks  well  for  his  nobleness  of  nature. 
When  going  to  battle  with  his  army  of  retainers  he  spread  his  hos- 
pitable board  against  their  return.  It  was  suggested  that  in  case  of 
defeat  they  would  have  been  making  preparation  for  the  enemy,  and 
it  would  be  more  prudent  to  conceal  their  effects  than  thus  expose 
them  to  depredation.  But  he  replied  that  the  world  was  an  inn,  of 
which  they  were  only  tenants  of  will  to  the  Lord.  If  it  please  him 
to  command  us  from  it  as  if  it  were  from  our  lodging  and  to  set 
other  good  fellows  in  our  rooms,  what  hurt  shall  it  be  for  us  to 
leave  them  some  meat  for  supper  ?  If  they  enter  our  dwellings  good 
manners  would  do  no  less  than  welcome  them  with  such  fare  as  the 
country  breedeth,  and  with  all  my  heart  much  good  may  it  do  them. 
Notwithstanding  I  presume  so   far  upon   your   bravery,  that  verily 


142  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

my  mind  giveth  me  assurance  that  we  shall  return  at  night  and  feast 
upon  our  own  provisions.  He  was  not  deceived  and  gained  the  vic- 
tory. When  building  a  castle  and  enjoining  it  upon  his  son  to 
complete  it,  the  reply  made  exhibited  the  like  noble  spirit.  Better, 
he  said,  a  castle  of  bones  than  of  stones.  Where  strength  and 
courage  of  valiant  men  are  ready  to  help  us,  never  will  I  with 
God's  grace  cumber  myself  Avith  dead  walls.  My  foot  shall  be 
wheresoever  young  bloods  are  stirring,  and  where  I  find  room  to 
fight. 

A  chance  chat  in  the  royal  ante-chamber  at  Eltham  with  Frois- 
sart,  who  was  bringing  a  poem  of  his  own  composition  to  king 
Richard  rather  to  be  appreciated  by  him  for  its  splendid  binding  than 
its  meaning,  affords  us  one  of  his  bright  glimpses  into  the  social  ways 
of  distant  generations.  His  companion  was  Christede  from  Bristol, 
who  related  to  him  his  experiences  many  years  before  when  under 
the  earl  of  Ormond,  in  battle  with  border  foes,  his  horse  ran 
away  with  him  into  the  hostile  ranks  and  he  was  captured  by  Brian 
Costerea.  This  noble  looking  personage  as  he  is  described  in  the 
narration  gave  his  daughter,  also  possessed  of  great  personal  at- 
tractions, to  the  stranger,  who  for  many  years  made  his  home  in  the 
country,  acquired  its  language,  and  adopted  its  modes  of  life  to  which 
he  became  greatly  attached.  In  process  of  time  another  occasion 
of  the  kind  was  improved  by  the  steed  to  deliver  Costerea  to  the  Eng- 
lish, and  the  horse  being  recognized  led  to  explanation.  Brian 
reluctantly  consented  to  part  with  his  daughter  and  her  husband, 
who  left  one  of  their  children  to  console  him  and  marry  in  Ireland, 
whilst  her  sister  goino;  back  with  their  father  to  his  home  in  Somer- 
setshire  raised  up  descendants  for  him  there.  This  talk  of  a  few 
moments  whilst  waiting  the  pleasure  of  the  king  for  an  audience, 
jotted  down  by  the  prince  of  annalists  and  gossips,  sufficiently  re- 
futes the  charge  studiously  urged  by  prejudice  that  one  race  was  in 
any  way  superior  to  the  other  under  like  conditions. 


TKANSFER     OF     ERIN.  143 

Impatience  at  events  led  to  frequent  change  of  rulers,  more  than 
twenty  in  this  single  reign  selected  for  their  abilities  and  station, 
and  in  most  instances  with  estates  on  the  island,  took  their  turn  in 
rapid  succession,  and  with  equal  inability  to  effect  what  was  ex- 
pected of  them.  Not  one  was  permitted  to  remain  long  enough  to 
gain  wisdom  or  experience,  and  however  sanguine  when  accepting 
office  they  were  all  glad  to  surrender  its  responsibilities.  It  may  be 
of  convenience  to  our  readers  to  pass  once  again  over  the  period 
under  consideration  to  gain  a  clearer  idea  of  the  chronological  order 
in  which  they  exercised  their  functions. 

Roger  de  Mortimer,  with  an  inheritance  both  in  Meath  and 
Leinster,  had  been  defeated  with  his  predecessor  Edmund  Butler  in 
1316.  He  five  years  later  gave  place  to  the  new  earl  of  Louth  who 
had  conquered  Bruce  at  Faughard,  but  after  a  single  year  Ealph  de 
Gorges  and  John  Darcy  were  appointed  governors.  In  the  new 
reign  the  second  Kildare  died  in  office,  and  Roger  Utlagh,  prior  of 
Kilmainham,  kinsman  of  the  victim  of  the  witchcraft  persecutions,  suc- 
ceeded. The  rule  of  Ulster  ended  before  his  assassination  by 
Mandeville,  and  Darcy  who  had  married  his  aunt,  widow  of  Kildare 
and  daughter  of  the  red  earl,  was  appointed  viceroy,  but  his  services 
being  needed  at  Hallidon  Hill  and  in  France,  he  left  his  brother-in- 
law  Thomas  de  Burgh  as  his  deputy.  The  language  used  by 
Edward  in  reproof  of  this  deputy's  unfaithful  administration  sounds 
well  for  the  king,  who  might  well  have  profited  himself  by  his  own 
discourse.  He  reproached  him  with  favoring  persons  of  power, 
yielding  to  men  and  not  to  right,  making  one  law  for  the  rich  and 
another  for  the  poor,  allowing  the  strong  to  oppress  the  weak, 
usurping  the  royal  authority,  detaining  debts  due  to  the  crown,  per- 
petrating heinous  crimes  ;  instead  of  protecting  the  poor,  who  were 
willing  to  be  obedient  subjects,  he  had  harassed  and  grieved 
them  against  all  justice,  thereby  giving  a  pernicious  example  to 
others.     Considering  therefore,  he  adds,  that  princes  are  appointed 


144  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

by  God  to  punish  evil  doers  and  reward  the  good,  we  expressly 
command  you  to  treat  and  judge  equitably  all  those  under  the  law 
of  England,  both  small  and  great,  rich  and  poor,  so  as  to  silence 
those  who  blame  you  and  to  merit  our  approbation. 

Bishop  Charlton,  superseding  his  brother  in  1337,  by  arrest  of 
truculent  nobles  and  his  memorable  cattle  prey  in  Carlo w,  by 
marching  about  the  land  with  horse  and  foot,  gratified  the  king, 
who  ordered  that  his  salary  should  take  priority  of  all  other 
payments.  Under  Sir  John  Morris,  deputy  of  D'Arcy,  appointed 
for  life  in  1340,  the  septs  regained  possession  of  at  least  one-third 
of  what  had  been  wrested  from  them,  reducing  Athlone,  Ros- 
common and  even  Randown,  which  from  its  strong  walls  and 
position  on  Lough  Rea  had  been  deemed  impregnable.  O'Neils 
were  spreading  again  over  Antrim ;  settlers  in  Louth  paying  tribute 
to  O'Hanlon  ;  Leinster  from  Carlow  to  the  sea  reverted  to  O'Byrnes, 
O'Tooles  and  Cavanaghs,  the  chief  of  the  latter  receiving  an  annual 
payment  from  the  authorities  at  Dublin  not  to  molest  them. 

The  next  choice  Sir  Raoul  D'UfFord  had  espoused  Maud,  widow 
of  the  murdered  Ulster.  His  progress  towards  the  north  ended  in 
disaster,  Mac  Artan  giving  him  a  humiliating  overthrow  in  Down. 
He  rendered  himself  universally  detested,  when  to  the  general 
joy  disease  malignant  as  his  temper  brought  relief  to  the  land,  and  he 
died  in  1346. 

Lord  Athenry,  brother  of  the  Bermingham,  executed  by  De 
Lacys  in  the  castle  in  1332,  and  from  whom  its  famous  tower  de- 
rived its  name,  next  in  succession,  warred  Avith  Kildare  against 
O'Moores  and  O'Dempseys,  and  was  followed  in  1349  by  the  model 
governor  Rokeby,  who  checked  extortion  and  conciliated  the  septs. 
It  was  he  who  preferred  to  be  served  on  wooden  platters  rather  than 
not  pay  in  gold  and  silver  the  wages  of  his  men.  Desmond,  ap- 
pointed for  life,  for  a  few  months  proved  an  efficient  and  just 
governor;  but  on  his  death  in  1556,  St.  Amand,  lord  of  Gormans- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  145 

town,  inherited  through  the  De  Verdons,  was  sent  over  with  in_ 
creased  appointments.  His  report  lionic  exhibited  the  sorry  pHght 
of  the  land  under  misrule,  which  he  for  three  years  did  what  he 
might  to  reform.  The  second  Ormond  was  followed  by  Lionel, 
created  duke  of  Clarence,  who  rendered  his  third  visit  to  the  island 
memorable  by  the  passage  of  the  act  of  Kilkenny.  Having  lost 
his  first  wife,  heiress  of  Ulster,  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this 
law,  he  betook  himself  to  Italy  to  marry  his  second,  Violante  Vis- 
conti,  and  there  died. 

The  fourth  Desmond  Gerald  "  the  poet,"  from  his  attainments  in 
many  arts  regarded  as  a  magician,  was  in  1369  replaced  by  Wind- 
sor, who  when  Edward  died  in  1377,  espoused  Alice  Piers  the 
royal  favorite.  Kildare  appointed  in  1371,  was  succeeded  l>y  the 
chancellor  William  de  Taney.  Then  came  Windsor  again,  who 
with  an  exhausted  treasury  and  the  island  in  arms,  effected  little,  and 
made  way  in  1375  for  the  fourth  Kildare,  whose  successor  the  second 
Ormond  in  1376  proved  the  last  of  Edward's  viceroys. 


XX. 

REIGN   OF   RICHARD   II. — 1377-1399. 

The  black  prince,  hero  of  Cressy  and  Poictiers,  than  whom  for 

nobleness  of  nature  or  heroic  action  no  character  in  English  history 

shines  with  more  brilliant  lustre,  died  the  year  before  his  father. 

His  son  Richard,  by  Joan  the  fair  maid  of  Kent,  grand-daughter 

of  the  great  Plan tagenet,  at  the  age  of  eleven  years,  succeeded  to 

the  throne.     With  such  progenitors,  if  dependence  could  be  placed 

on  transmitted  trait,  the  young  king  should  have  proved  one  of 

the  best  of  monarchs,  instead  of  the  worst  and  weakest.     In  vanity, 

extravagance  and  foolish  fondness  for  favorites,  his  career  certainly 

exhibits  curious  parallels  to  those  of  his  ancestors  the  second  Edward 

and  third  Henry,  but  there  w^as  little  resemblance  to  be  found  in  him 
19 


146  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

to  the  wise  or  strong  of  his  race.  Brought  up  in  the  purple,  with- 
out restraint  or  counsel,  his  kinsmen  powerless  to  control  him,  and 
no  courtier  disposed  to  risk  his  displeasure  by  opposing  his  caprice, 
he  developed  slowly  but  surely  into  a  frivolous  voluptuary.  Wast- 
ing thirty  thousand  marks  on  a  single  garment,  decking  himself 
with  trinkets,  three  hundred  servants  employed  to  pamper  his  ap- 
petites, his  days  passed  in  feast  and  pageant.  In  administration  of 
affairs,  self-willed  and  arbitrary,  the  affectionate  loyalty  which 
greeted  his  accession,  due  in  a  large  measure  to  the  "respect  attach- 
ing to  the  memory  of  his  father,  and  which  reluctantly  yielded  its 
hold,  since  there  was  much  in  his  personal  appearance  and  manner 
to  prepossess,  changed  into  contempt.  His  uncles  York  and  Lan- 
caster, able  men,  endeavored  in  vain  to  exercise  some  influence  over 
his  wayward  courses,  but  soon  mortified  and  disheartened  withdrew 
into  retirement,  and  Gloucester  who  longer  persevered,  nobly  ac- 
tuated by  affection  for  the  king  and  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  the 
realm,  was  cruelly  and  treacherously  murdered  at  Calais  in  1397  by 
order  of  his  royal  nephew. 

For  the  first  year  of  this  reign,  James  the  second  earl  of  Ormond, 
1331—1383,  continued  viceroy,  followed  by  Balscot  and  Bromwich. 
English  rule  was  at  a  low  ebb.  Ireland  was  indeed  nearly  lost. 
Absentee  landlords  abandoned  estates,  which  they  could  not  enjoy  in 
security,  to  the  older  titles  of  the  septs  sustained  by  adequate  force, 
and  went  home  making  such  composition  as  they  might.  They 
were  ordered  to  return  or  find  substitutes  under  penalty  of  forfeiting 
two-thirds  of  their  revenues,  or  one-third  if  students  in  English 
colleges.  Permission  was  given  them  to  dig  for  gold  and  coin  it 
and  to  import  wines  free  from  Portugal.  But  these  gracious  boons 
offered  no  compensation  for  discomforts  and  perils  to  which  they 
were  not  inclined  to  expose  themselves  or  their  families. 

When  Art  McMorragh  claimed  arrears  of  tribute  and  eric  for  his 
brother   Donald,    they   were   promptly   paid,    as    also  subsidies  to 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  147 

O'Connor  and  O'Brien  by  assessment  on  royal  functionaries.  In 
1380  the  government  was  entrusted  to  Edmund  Mortimer,  who  at 
the  age  of  twenty-nine  had  ah*eady  gained  reputation  for  ability  and 
discretion  by  negotiations  in  France  and  Scotland,  and  who  by  right 
of  his  wife  lord  of  Ulster,  Connaught  and  Trim,  seemed  especially 
fit  to  cope  with  the  embarrassments  attending  administration.  He 
went  over  with  a  numerous  following  and  full  purse.  Several  chief- 
tains hastened  to  welcome  him  and  showed  their  disposition  to  ac- 
cede to  propositions  which  he  offered.  But  want  of  good  faith  in 
making  prisoners  of  Magenuis  and  O'Hanlon  whilst  his  guests, 
checked  their  misplaced  confidence  and  barred  his  furtlier  progress 
into  Ulster.  He  constructed  a  bridge  over  the  Bann  in  Coleraine 
with  oak  from  his  lands  at  home,  fortifying  it  with  three  castles  ;  he 
plundered  clergy  and  laity  of  cattle  and  other  spoils ;  captured  St. 
Aubyn  of  Cumpsy,  confining  him  in  the  castle  of  Kilkenny,  and  re- 
duced Athlone ;  but  taking  cold  crossing  a  river,  died  at  Cork  on 
the  twenty-sixth  of  December,  1381. 

De  Colton  chosen  in  his  place  by  the  council  was  shortly  after 
superseded  by  Roger  de  Mortimer  then  but  eleven  years  of  age,  son 
of  the  deceased  Edmund,  with  his  uncle  Thomas  for  his  deputy. 
They  made  way  in  1385  for  Philip  de  Courtenay,  another  cousin  of 
the  king,  who  for  alleged  rapacity  and  arbitrary  rule  was  taken  into 
custody,  dispossessed  of  his  official  functions  and  severely  punished. 
Records  exist  to  show  that  his  oppressions  if  not  inventions  in  the 
interest  of  his  successor  were  grossly  exaggerated.  That  successor, 
Robert  de  Vere,  ninth  earl  of  Oxford  and  grandson  of  Duflford, 
the  abuses  of  whose  administration  have  been  already  mentioned, 
by  his  personal  attractions  secured  an  ascendancy  over  the  mind 
of  Richard,  the  one  steadfast  passion  of  his  life.  In  1385,  with  the 
consent  of  his  council,  the  king  bestowed  upon  his  favorite  the  whole 
of  his  Irish  dominions  with  the  islands  round  about,  and  whatever  else 
he  could  conquer,  creating  him  first  marquis  of  Dublin  and  then 


148  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

duke  of  Ireland.  Not  willing  to  lose  his  companionship,  Sir  John 
Stanley,  lately  enriched  by  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  Lathom, 
was  sent  over  as  deputy,  De  Vere  himself  never  setting  foot  on  the 
island.  Levying  war  against  the  duke  of  Gloucester,  whose  niece 
Phillippa  de  Couci,  he  repudiated  for  the  daughter  of  a  Portuguese 
joiner,  or  for  a  German  landgravine,  both  stories  are  told,  he  was  de- 
feated in  Oxfordshire.  He  escaped  on  to  the  continent,  and  attaint- 
ed in  1388  was  killed  in  hunting  by  a  wild  boar  four  years  later  in 
Louvain. 

Stanley  again  governor  in  1389  was  not  inactive.  He  contrived 
to  capture  NialOge  O'Neil,  but  soon  surrendered  him.  The  English 
in  Waterford,  Cork,  Limerick  and  other  cities  dared  not  leave 
their  walls.  Kildare  was  laid  waste,  its  principal  towns  were  sacked 
by  the  neighboring  septs ,  and  Carlo w  overrun.  Two  years  later  James 
the  third  Ormond,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  earl  in  1383,  was  ap- 
pointed viceroy  with  three  thousand  marks  allowance.  The  Butler 
abode  at  Nenagh  having  been  wrested  from  them  by  its  earlier  pro- 
prietors, he  had  built  the  castle  of  Gowran,  but  the  year  of  his  ap- 
pointment he  purchased  of  the  Spensers,  heirs  of  Isabel  de  Clare, 
the  castle  of  Kilkenny,  which  has  been  ever  since  the  chief  abode 
of  his  line.  In  1393,  the  duke  of  Gloucester  nominated  as  his  suc- 
cessor made  preparations  to  go  over,  but  his  loyalty  being  suspected 
his  commission  was  revoked,  and  the  king  announced  his  intention 
of  proceeding  to  Ireland  in  person.  The  death  of  his  wife  Ann  of 
Bohemia  caused  delay  ;  but  in  October  with  four  thousand  men  at  arms 
and  thirty  thousand  archers  he  landed  at  AVaterford.  His  troops 
were  discomfited  in  Offaly  and  Ely,  and  Art  MacMorrogh,  king  of 
Leinster,  molested  his  march  to  Dublin  where  he  passed  his  Christmas. 

Of  Art  the  Four  Masters  tell  us  in  noting  his  death  in  1417 
that  he  had  defended  his  province  against  Irish  and  English  from 
his  fifteenth  to  his  sixtieth  year.  HosjDitable,  well  informed  and 
chivalric,    right   royal   and   prosperous,  he  enriched  churches   and 


TKANSFER     OF     ERIN,  149 

monasteries  by  liis  alms  and  oiFerings.  Succeeding  Donogli,  slain 
in  1775,  his  reign  lasted  forty-two  years,  and  by  his  activity,  wis- 
dom and  valor,  he  acquired  and  retained  such  ascendancy  over  the 
descendants  of  Cahir  Mor  that  they  willingly  accepted  him  for  their 
leader  and  king.  His  wife  was  an  Englishwoman,  baroness  of 
Norragh,  Avhose  estates  were  within  reach  of  the  government  at 
Dublin.  They  were  confiscated  on  the  plea  that  she  had  married  an 
Irishman.  Thus  Avith  monstrous  ingratitude  the  representative  of 
Dermot  McMorrogh,  who  with  his  daughter  Eva  had  given  all 
Leinster  to  vStrongbow  and  the  English,  was  deprived  of  the  small 
portion  of  the  land  of  his  ancestors  which  had  returned  to  him  by 
virtue  of  English  law  under  a  like  title. 

The  decease  of  Roderick  king  of  Connaught  by  the  plague  in 
1484,  after  a  reign  of  sixteen  years,  led  to  a  disputed  succession 
which  embroiled  the  country  in  blood  for  many  years.  Two  Tur- 
loghs,  Don  and  Roe,  brown  and  red,  contended  for  the  throne  of 
which  the  former  held  uneasy  possession  twenty-two  years.  AVhether 
he  or  Roderick  his  uncle  was  the  last  king  of  Connaught  is  a  subject 
for  dispute;  but  when  he  was  slain  in  140G,  the  partition  of  the 
family  domains  of  Roscommon  was  carried  into  effect  under  compact 
made  some  years  before.  From  this  epoch  the  power  of  the  royal 
family  of  O'Connor  greatly  declined.  To  follow  out  the  vicissitudes 
of  their  incessant  strife  would  occupy  more  space  than  our  limits 
permit ;  but  the  waste  of  strength  in  such  unnatural  warfare  and 
subdivision  of  territory  paved  the  way  to  eventual  subjugation. 
O'Dowds,  O'Malleys,  O'Flahertys,  O'Kellys,  McDermots,  O'Haras, 
McMurtoghs,  MacJordans  d'Exeter,  both  houses  of  the  Burkes 
and  other  septs  of  Connaught  took  part,  and  O'Rourks,  O'Reillys, 
O'Ferrals,  O'Rannals  engaged  on  either  side,  O'Donnels  interpos- 
ing to  allay  or  aggravate  the  turmoil. 

Brian  Catha  an  Aonaigh  ruled  over  Thomond  for  thirty  years, 
dying  in  1399.     AVith  his  son-in-law  Ulick  de  Burgh  of  Clanrick- 


150  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

ard  he  levied  tribute  upon  the  English  of  Munster,  and  proved 
both  an  able  and  successful  ruler.  In  1380  Murrogh  the  tanist  of 
Thomond  plundered  Fitzge raids  and  Fitzmaurices,  defeating  the 
English  under  Mortimer  at  Athlone,  and  in  1395  Bryan,  son  of 
Mahon,  made  war  upon  the  O'Brien  whom  he  drove  out  from 
Thomond,  taking  John  fifth  earl  of  Kildare  and  Dermod  O'Brien 
prisoners.  In  1398  McCarthy  Reagh  defeated  O'Sullivan  ;  his  two 
sons,  and  Owen  and  Conor  O'Sullivans  Beare  being  slain.  The  Bar- 
rets and  some  branches  of  the  Geraldines  were  at  strife,  but  for  the 
most  part  the  lords  of  Munster  of  either  race  were  too  sensible  to  shed 
each  other's  blood.  The  fourth  earl  of  Desmond  called  the  poet 
left  his  camp  one  evening  in  1396  and  disappeared  for  ever.  His 
son  John  the  fifth  was  drowned  in  the  Suir  in  1399  ;  and  another 
son  James  who  in  1388  by  special  permission  of  the  crown  was 
placed  at  fosterage  with  Conor  O'Brien,  became  later  the  seventh 
earl  by  usurpation,  Thomas  the  son  of  the  fifth  being  set  aside  for 
selecting  his  wife  for  her  beauty. 

At  this  period  two  sage  monarchs  ruled  over  Tyrone  and  Tyrcon- 
nel.  They  had  occasionally  to  contend  with  discontent  at  home  or 
attack  from  without,  but  allied  by  marriage  they  were  generally  care- 
ful not  to  waste  their  strength  upon  each  other.  Nial  defeated  the 
Maguiresin  1379,  depredated  Orial  in  1383  and  invaded  Savages  of 
Down,  and  the  next  year  burnt  Carrickfergus .  In  an  interval  of 
peace  he  rebuilt  in  1387  Ermania  two  miles  west  of  Armagh, 
the  ancient  palace  of  the  Clan  Rory  monarchs  destroyed  a  thousand 
years  before,  and  appropriated  it  to  the  entertainment  of  the 
learned  men  of  the  country.  In  1392  he  conquered  the  English  at 
Dundalk  and  later  invaded  Tyrconnel,  but  after  the  two  armies  lay 
opposed  at  Fearsat  More,  they  made  peace,  and  again  in  1397 
separated  without  fighting.  This  was  the  last  expedition  of  Nial, 
for  "the  contender  for  the  crown  of  Ireland,  pillar  of  the  dignity  and 
preeminence  of  his  principality  and  of  resistance  to  every  attack, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  151 

destroyer  of  the  English,  imiter  of  the  Irish,  exalter  of  the  church 
and  sciences,  died  after  the  victory  of  unction  and  penance,  and  his 
son  Nial  Oge  assumed  his  place."  His  son  Henry  Aimreigh  who  was 
called  the  contentious  died  five  years  earlier.  Whilst  he  lived  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  affiairs  of  Tyrone,  as  did  later  his  sons  not 
always  on  the  side  of  their  grandfather.  Along  the  southern  bor- 
der of  Tyrone  and  to  the  west,  O'Rourkes  and  O'Reilly's,  Mac 
Kennas  and  Mageoghans,  O'Ferralls  O'Molloys  and  Maccogh- 
lans  of  Delvin  were  constantly  in  contention,  generally  amongst 
themselves,  but  often  also  against  the  English  in  Meath,  who  in 
1385  sustained  a  disastrous  defeat  from  O'Connor  of  Offaly. 

In  oue  of  those  family  quarrels  which  grew  out  of  the  social 
condition  of  the  septs,  Turlogh  O'Donnel  son  of  Nial  Garve  with 
his  followers  in  1380,  attacked  at  night  in  his  camp  John  lord  of 
Tyrconnel,  g.  g.  s.  of  Donnel  Oge.  John  fell  in  the  combat.  Tur- 
logh inaugurated  in  his  place  continued  chief  forty-two  years, 
when  he  resigned  in  favor  of  his  son  Nial  Garve,  and  entered  the 
monastery  of  Assaroe,  near  which  John  was  slain.  "He  was  a  peace- 
able, affluent  and  graceful  man,  and  died  in  the  habit  of  a  monk  after 
victory  of  unction  and  penance."  If  peaceably  disposed  and  this 
epithet  justly  attaches  to  his  career,  he  was  frequently  engaged  in 
warfare  with  his  neighbors.  When  Murtogh  O'Connor  made  an  on- 
slaught upon  him,  killing  his  chiefs  O'Boyle  andO'Gallaghar  and  cap- 
turing MacSweeny  and  his  son,  with  great  prey  of  horses,  arms  and 
armor,  he  led  his  army  into  Carbury  and  spoiled  the  Clan  Murtogh 
Thereupon  Donel  son  of  Murtogh  made  submission,  yielding  what 
Avas  demanded  of  him  and  surrendering  the  prisoners  and  hostages 
taken  on  the  previous  expedition.  Four  years  afterward  his  neighbor 
Kial  king  of  Tyrone  invaded  Tyrconnel  as  did  also  the  Clan  Mur- 
togh. The  latter  Turlogh  defeated  and  at  Fearsat  Mor  took  place 
the  reconciliation  already  mentioned  with  O'Neill,  whose  daughter 
Graine   was    Turlogh's    wife.     In    1395    O'Donnel   defeated    her 


152  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

nephews,  sons  of  Henry  O'Niel  at  that  time  at  war  with  their  grand- 
ftither,  and  the  next  year  the  Clan  Murtogh  in  Carbury,  burning 
the  town  of  Sllgo  with  its  splendid  edifices  of  stone  and  wood. 
Quick  to  take  offence  Nial  the  next  year,  and  the  last  of  his  life, 
made  an  incursion  into  Tyrconnel,  but  withdrew  without  sustaining 
much  loss.  Turlogh  then  invaded  Fermanagh  spoiling  land  and 
castle  but  sparing  churches,  and  likewise  invaded  Carbury,  expelling 
Donnel  and  setting  up  O'Connor  his  grandson  in  his  stead.  The 
same  year  he  again  defeated  the  meii  of  Carbury  and  concluded 
peace  with  them,  but  soon  after  was  taken  at  disadvantage  at  Brena- 
oge.  This  reverse,  alienated  his  chieftains,  and  Nial  Oge  now  king 
of  Tyrone  aided  by  some  of  his  own  lieges,  O'Doherty  and  the 
Clan  Sweeny,  plundered  Assaroe  of  its  riches  and  reduced  him  to 
straits,  but  in  1400  the  Kinel  Owen  again  invading  Tyrconnel  they 
were  driven  out  and  many  of  them  slain. 

The  plague  of  1383  was  peculiarly  fatal  to  the  magnates  of  Ire- 
land. Art  Magennis,  Roderick  of  Connaught,  Murrogh  the  tanist 
of  Thomond,  Mora  O'Madden  wife  of  Clanrickarde,  Joanna  daugh- 
ter of  Ormond  and  wife  of  O'Carroll  of  Ely,  O'Kennedy,  the  lord  of 
Corcovascain ,  the  Gilpatrick  and  the  son  of  his  tanist  of  Ossory, 
O'Conor  Kerry,  Magauran  tanist  of  Tullyhar,  O'Farrell  lord  of 
Annaly,  the  son  of  Fircall  and  many  more  were  its  victims. 
William  O'Kelly  the  hospitable  lord  of  Hy-Many  died  in  1382,  and 
Quintin  O'Kane  whose  tomb  is  at  Dungiven  in  1395.  Among  the 
prominent  personages  whose  deaths  are  recorded,  were  many  of  the 
Mac  Sweenys  originally  of  the  northwest  corner  of  the  island,  where 
they  flourished  in  great  power  as  feudatories  of  O'Donnel,  but  M'ho 
for  their  military  skill  and  prowess  became  hereditary  constables  to 
the  kings  of  Connaught,  Desmond,  Thomond,  Clanrickard  and 
of  many  other  chieftains,  their  duty  being  to  marshal  the  septs  and 
attend  to  all  the  functions  of  war. 

The  number  of  learned  men  who  are  mentioned  in  the  annals  as 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  153 

passing  away  from  life  during  this  last  quarter  of  the  fourteenth 
century  gives  us  some  notion  of  the  general  intelligence  of  the 
people.  O'Donnellan  ollav  of  Sil  Murray  the  most  learned  man 
of  the  island,  O'Beaghan,  MacCurtin  historian  of  Thomond, 
O'Rooney  poet  to  Magennis,  O'Mulvany  ollav  to  O'Kane,  Donogh 
MacFirbis  a  good  historian,  Ruarcan  O'Hamill  poet  to  O'Hanlon 
who  had  kept  a  house  of  general  hospitality  and  never  refused  to 
receive  any  one,  O'Rodaghan  a  general  scholar  and  Fiutan  a  good 
poet,  acquired  reputation  and  slept  with  their  fathers.  O'Sgingan 
ollav  of  Kinel  Connel  in  history,  Mac  Egan  chief  brehon  of 
Lower  Connaught,  sage  without  contention  or  reproach,  another 
MacFirbis,  jNIacCarrol  most  eminent  of  the  Irish  in  music, 
another  Sgingan  intended  ollav  of  Kinelconnel,  O'Duiganan  chief 
historian  of  Conmaine  in  Leitrim,  left  if  not  monuments  of 
their  genius  at  least  its  memory.  O'Mulconry  chief  of  Con- 
naught  in  history  and  poetry,  O'Daly  chief  poet  of  Ireland, 
O'Keenan  a  learned  historian  and  ollav  of  Oriel,  Mac  Egan  ollav  of 
Brefny  in  judicature,  Matthew  O'Luinin  eranagh  of  Arde  in  Fer- 
managh, two  Mac  Egans  in  1400,  one  skilled  in  Fenecha  law  and 
music  and  who  had  kept  a  celebrated  house  of  hospitality,  and  the 
other  arch  ollav  of  Fenecha  law,  added  futher  lustre  to  names 
already  familiar  in  connection  with  Irish  literature. 

The  meagre  materials  afforded  by  the  annalists  at  this  period  shed 
little  light  upon  the  condition  of  the  people  beyond  what  we  have 
gleaned.  Froissart  describes  the  country  as  one  of  the  most  evil  to 
make  war  upon  or  bring  under  subjection.  It  was  closely,  sharply 
and  widely  covered  with  high  forests,  great  waters  and  marshes,  and 
places  uninhabitable  and  hard  to  enter  to  do  damage.  There  were 
no  towns  or  persons  to  speak  withal.  The  men  drew  to  the  woods 
and  dwelt  in  caves  and  small  cottages  under  trees  and  among  bushes 
and  hedges.     A  man  of  arms  might  be  ever  so  well  mounted,  yet 

run  as  fast  as  he  might  the  Irishman  would  overtake  him,  leap  up  be- 
20 


154 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


hind  his  horse  and  draw  him  off.  The  chiefs  were  better  lodged,  but 
for  safety  selected  islands  in  the  lakes  of  which  a  well  known  instance 
is  the  majestic  ruin  of  Eoss  Castle  in  Killarney  the  home  of  the 
elder  branch  of  the  O'Donofjhoes. 

It  is  difficult  in  the  changed  condition  from  good  roads,  large 
cities  and  rapid  locomotion  to  realize  the  isolated  existence  of  the 
septs  at  this  remote  period.  We  know  enough  of  their  habits  of  life 
and  occupations  to  know  they  did  not  stagnate.  Their  constant 
warfai'e  with  their  neiEjlibors  was  a  OTira  struijo-le  for  honor  as  well 
as  for  spoil ;  it  developed  manly  and  generous  sentiment,  induced 
social  tastes  and  brought  them  into  comj)anionship  in  their  sports, 
occupations  and  religious  rites.  Enough  has  been  said  in  former 
chapters  of  what  their  duties  and  pleasures  consisted.  They  had 
resumed  possession  of  much  of  the  land.  The  lords  of  English 
race  had  assumed  their  language  and  dress,  and  related  by  blood 
were  regarded  simply  as  chieftains  like  their  own.  The  govern- 
ment at  Dublin  was  looked  upon  as  little  else  than  another 
sept,  an  English  colony  planted  on  the  shore  like  Waterford 
or  Kinsale. 

What  had  long  existed  occasioned  no  surprise,  but  the  arrival 
of  king  Richard  in  1394  with  his  large  army  must  have  at- 
tracted attention  and  produced  some  consternation.  The  mani- 
fest intention  of  the  king  to  subjugate  the  island  at  a  time 
when  no  unusual  provocation  had  been  given  for  a  long  previous 
period,  proves  the  prudence  of  the  chiefs  in  the  precautions  M^hich 
they  took  for  safety.  Many  of  the  more  powerful,  realizing  their 
inability,  divided  as  they  were,  to  make  head  against  the  for- 
midable armaments  he  brought  with  liim,  accepted  the  situation 
and  made  overtures  of  peace.  The  king  at  Drogheda  received 
in  person  the  homage  of  O'Niel  and  other  chiefs  of  Ulster, 
and  Art  of  Leinster  and  MacCarthy  of  Desmond  near  Carlow 
tendered    similar    submission    to    Mowbray    earl    of    Nottingham. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  155 

Seventy-five  chiefs  entered  into  bonds  payable  in  the  apostolic  cham- 
ber to  keep  the  peace.  O'Connor  king  of  Connaught,  O'Brien  of 
Thomond,  O'Nial  of  Ulster,  and  Art  of  Leinster  were  entertained 
by  Richard  in  Dublin  and  received  knighthood  at  his  hands,  Henry 
Crestede  already  mentioned  and  the  earl  of  Ormond  initiating 
them  in  the  mysteries  of  the  rite.  Art  in  giving  in  his  adherence 
made  it  conditional  on  the  restoration  of  the  lands  of  his  wife  in 
Kildare,  but  when  this  condition  was  not  complied  with,  he  con- 
sidered himself  absolved  from  any  obligation. 

The  king  in  reporting  to  his  council  the  success  attending  his 
progress  Avrote  that  there  were  in  Ireland  three  kinds  of  people,  the 
wild  Irish  our  enemies,  the  rebel  Irish  and  the  English  who  are  in 
obedience  ;  that  the  Irish  had  been  driven  into  rebellion  by  inju- 
ries and  wrongs  for  which  they  had  no  remedy,  and  if  not  more 
wisely  treated  and  placed  in  hope  of  favor  they  would  join  the  enemy. 
He  had  therefore  granted  them  a  general  pardon  and  taken  them 
under  his  special  protection.  There  was  disappointment  at  home 
that  the  costly  aiTay  in  Ireland  should  not  have  been  employed  to 
better  purpose  in  subduing  more  eiFectively  the  septs  as  had  been  his 
intent,  but  the  council  yielded  their  assent  to  the  course  adopted, 
provided  fines  and  penalties  were  exacted  to  defray  the  expenses  in- 
curred. They  soon  after  urged  his  return  to  repress  the  Lollards 
and  take  measures  against  hostile  menace  from  Scotland  and  in 
1395  he  went  home  to  receive  the  plaudits  of  his  English  subjects 
for  his  achievements. 

Roger  de  Mortimer  presumptive  heir  to  the  throne,  then  approach- 
ing his  majority  and  married  to  the  niece  of  the  king,  daughter  of 
the  duke  of  Surrey,  once  more  was  appointed  viceroy.  His  vast 
estates  in  both  countries  and  twenty  thousand  marks  of  accumulated 
rents  made  him  rich.  He  was  "  a  stout  champion  at  tournaments,  a 
famous  speaker,  a  bountiful  giver,  in  conversation  affable  and  jocose, 
in  beauty  and  form  surpassing  his  fellows,  but  although  warlike  and 


156  TKANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

renowned  and  successful  in  his  enterprises,  he  was  disolute  and  re- 
miss in  matters  of  religion."  His  brother  Edmund  married  a 
daughter  of  Owen  Glendower,  his  sister  Elizabeth  Henry  Percy, 
more  familiarly  known  to  readers  of  Shakespeare  as  Hotspur. 
Soon  after  his  appointment  appeared  Romin  de  Perellos,  a  Spanish 
magnate  on  his  way  to  visit  the  purgatory  of  St.  Patrick  in  Donegal. 
Mortimer  tried  to  dissuade  Ramon  from  his  enterprise  but  without 
eflfect,  and  the  Spaniard  was  hospitably  entertained  by  the  chiefs 
who  remembered  that  their  progenitors  came  also  out  of  Spain. 

Le  Scrope,  justiciary  of  Leinster,  to  whom  the  king  had  confided 
his  hostages,  was  rapacious  and  cruel  till  his  wife  refused  to  live 
with  him  unless  he  changed  his  course ;  whereupon  he  became 
generous,  promoted  the  public  welfare,  and  died  generally  beloved. 
Sir  Thomas  de  Mortimer,  uncle  of  the  viceroy,  not  so  easily  con- 
verted from  the  error  of  his  ways,  perhaps  having  no  wife  to  save 
him  from  the  bad,  was  impeached,  declared  a  traitor,  and  forced  to 
seek  asylum  beyond  the  pale.  Gerald  fifth  earl  of  Kildare  taken 
prisoner  paid  large  ransom  to  O'Connor  of  Offaly.  The  viceroy 
himself  soon  afterwards  fell  at  Kenlis  in  Carlo w,  where  his  army 
was  put  to  rout  and  cut  to  pieces.  Surrey  succeeded,  but  the  king 
giving  him  the  lands  of  Art's  wife  in  Kildare,  neither  he  nor  Janico 
d'Artois  his  gascon  general  could  make  any  impression  on  the 
septs,  and  Richard  in  1399  returned  with  like  numbers  as  before. 

After  three  weeks  at  Waterford  he  marched,  on  the  23d  of  June, 
against  Art  who  claimed  to  be  king  of  Ireland,  and  who  with  three 
thousand  men  set  his  brother  king  at  defiance.  Richard  burnt  his 
villages  and  woods  and  by  the  blaze  knighted  Henry  of  Lancaster 
afterwards  the  hero  of  Azincourt.  The  army  after  eleven  days  of 
fruitless  efibrt  to  take  McMorrogh  at  disadvantage  or  to  penetrate 
within  his  domains  would  have  famished  had  not  tlu-ee  vessels  brousfht 
supplies  from  Dublin.  They  rushed  into  the  waves  to  satisfy  their 
craving,    drank  the  wines   till    intoxicated    and   quarrelsome,    and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  157 

Richard  made  what  haste  he  could  to  Dublin.  ]\Iac  jNIurrogh  prof- 
fered peace  and  the  earl  of  Gloucester  was  sent  to  parley,  when  Art 
on  a  splendid  steed,  valued  by  the  prevailing  standards  at  four  hun- 
dred cows,  rode  down  the  mountain,  a  fine  large  able  man,  won- 
drously  active,  of  stern  indomitable  mien.  A  long  dart  which  he 
held  in  his  hand  he  threw  from  him  as  he  approached.  The  confer- 
ence was  long  and  earnest,  but,  as  the  chief  insisted  upon  peace 
without  condition,  led  to  no  result. 

The  king  vowed  he  would  not  depart  from  Ireland  till  he  had 
Art  alive  or  dead ;  but  soon  arrived  the  tidings  that  Henry  of 
Lancaster  had  taken  possession  of  his  own  throne.  The  duke  of 
Albemarle  his  nephew,  in  the  plot,  discouraged  his  immediate  re- 
turn, and  when  in  September,  1399,  he  reached  Milford  the  mischief 
was  done,  and  Henry  the  fourth  ruled  in  his  stead.  His  crazy  and 
wicked  obstinacy  in  seeking  to  dethrone  Art  brought  fitting  retri- 
bution in  his  own  deposition.  The  murder  of  his  uncle  Clarence, 
spoliation  of  the  son  of  his  uncle  Lancaster,  his  heedless  extrava- 
gance and  oppressive  taxes  alienated  the  affections  of  his  people, 
and  a  violent  death,  in  what  manner  has  never  transpired,  closed  at 
the  age  of  thirty-four  his  reign  of  twenty-three  years. 


XXL 

REIGN   OF   HENRY   IV. 1399-1413. 

The  nearest  in  lineal  succession  after  Richard  H.  was  not  Henry, 
but  Ednwnd  Mortimer  then  seven  years  of  .age,  son  of  Roger,  slain 
at  Kenlis  in  1398,  and  representative  of  Lionel  duke  of  Clarence 
third  son  of  Edward  HI.  ;  Avhile  the  new  king  derived  from  John 
of  Gaunt  the  fourth.  This  usurpation  proved  for  eighty  years  a 
fruitful  source  of  contention  and  jealousy  between  the  houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster,  the  white  rose  and  the  red,  drenching  England 


158  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

in  blood.  Richard  of  York,  son  of  Edmund  Langley,  fifth  son  of 
Edward  III.  married  Ann  Mortimer  the  rightful  heir  after  the 
death  of  her  brother,  Edmund  the  last  earl  of  March,  who  wliile 
viceroy  in  1424  died  of  the  plague.  From  them  descended  the 
house  of  York. 

Henry's  wars  with  Scotland  led  to  repraisals,  and  the  north-easterly 
shores  of  Ireland  were  exposed  to  depredation  from  the  isles.  A 
fleet  fitted  out  by  the  Anglo-Irish  at  Dublin  encountered  the 
enemy  near  Strangford,  but  met  with  disaster.  Expeditions  from 
Drogheda  with  better  fortune,  took  many  prizes ;  and  privateers 
from  the  capital  emulated  their  example,  plundering  Wales  and 
carrying  off  to  their  cathedral  the  shrine  of  St.  Cubin.  Eoyal 
license  was  given  in  1400  to  merchants  of  Bristol  to  make  war  with 
four  vessels  against  the  De  Burkes,  who  aided  by  Ormond  had 
seized  Galway,  but  there  is  no  record  of  their  design  being  carried 
out. 

Soon  after  the  accession  of  the  new  monarch  Stanley  was  ap- 
pointed for  three  years  for  the  fourth  time  viceroy,  Balscot,  bishop 
of  Meath,  his  brother  William  and  Scrope  representing  him  in  turn 
as  deputy.  Thomas  of  Lancaster,  second  son  of  the  king,  com- 
missioned for  twenty-one  years  as  lord  lieutenant,  but  who  was  still 
a  youth,  reached  Dublin  in  November,  1402.  O'Byrnes  the  next 
summer  rose  in  arms  four  thousand  strong,  but  were  defeated  near 
Bray  by  Drake,  mayor  of  Dublin.  The  royal  treasury  running 
low,  the  soldiers  unpaid  became  discontented,  and  the  duke  after 
compacts  with  O'Byrne,  O'Reilly,  O'Connor  and  Mac  Mahon  to 
keep  peace  went  home.  Scrope  left  as  deputy  soon  made  Avay  for 
the  third  Ormond,  kinsman  to  the  king,  "a  mighty  man"  who 
after  holding  .  a  parliament  to  confirm  the  statutes  of  Dublin  and 
Kilkenny,  died  at  Gowran  in  1405.  The  fifth  Kildare  chosen  by 
the  council  was  removed  in  favor  of  Scrope,  whose  life  was  also 
brought  by  the  plague  to  a  premature  close  at  Castle  Dermod  in 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  159 

1408.  Lancaster  again  came  over,  and  among  other  severi- 
ties threw  Kiklare  into  prison  for  appointing  a  prebendary  to 
Maynooth.  He  was  seriously  wounded  in  an  engagement  at  Kil- 
mainham  with  tenants  of  the  crown,  barely  escaping  with  his 
life,  and  in  1410  left  Ireland  in  charge  of  Thomas  Butler  son  of 
the  third  Ormond.  His  only  exploit  was  an  invasion  with  fifteen 
hundred  Irishmen  against  the  irrepressible  O'Byrnes,  when  more 
than  half  his  army  deserting  him  he  succeeded  with  difficulty  in 
effecting  his  retreat. 

Wright,  whose  relation  of  events  is  tinctured  by  his  national 
bias,  tells  us  "  that  the  island  seemed  sinking  into  barbarism  and 
confusion  amid  the  domestic  quarrels  of  the  septs,  and  their  wars 
with  one  another  and  the  English,  that  its  history  at  this  period 
was  a  continuous  story  of  chiefs  deposed,  imprisoned  and  slaugh- 
tered, towns  and  villages  rifled  and  burnt  and  outrages  of  every 
description."  Gilbert,  with  better  opportunities  for  information, 
comes  to  an  exactly  opposite  conclusion,  and  historical  candor  will, 
no  doubt,  concur  with  his  views  even  thouoh  the  relation  of  events 
by  the  former  writer  should  be  accepted  as  generally  correct. 

Indeed  this  fifteenth  century  was  comparatively  for  the  native  septs 
their  golden  age,  their  best  certainly  since  Scandinavian  pirates  dis- 
turbed the  saints'  rest  which  St.  Patrick  brought  with  Christianity. 
The  ancient  laws  and  institutions,  that  Brehon  code  which  with  minute 
precision  laid  down  rules  for  adjudicating  on  almost  every  variety  of 
dispute,  encroachment  or  breach  of  law,  were  in  full  operation.  Jus- 
tice was  enforced,  religious  observances  respected,  institutions  of 
learning  received  generous  support.  Their  intimate  relations  with 
Scotland  and  frequent  pilgrimages  to  France,  Spain  and  Italy  ren- 
dered the  chiefs  conversant  with  the  affairs  of  the  continent,  with 
which  constant  communication  w\as  maintained  by  their  clergy  and 
ecclesiastical  students.  Elegancies  of  life  found  their  way  into  the- 
c.xstles  of  the  chieftains,  and  as  these  were  the  gathering  places  of  the 


16U  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

clans  the  people  generally  pnrticipated  in  their  refining  influence. 
Castles  were  built  by  MacDonogh  and  ]MacDermots  ;  the  abbey  of 
Quin  by  MacNamara,  Portumna  by  O'Madtlin. 

The  septs  h;ul  been  gradually  gaining  on  the  English  race,  so  that 
only  portions  of  the  four  counties  of  Dublin,  Meath,  Kildare  and 
Lowth  were  subject  to  the  crown.  Nor  were  these  limits  to  be  ex- 
tended during  the  next  hundred  years.  Lowth  or  Oriel  paid  O'Xiel 
forty  pounds,  Meath  three  hundred  and  Kildare  twenty  to  O'Con- 
nor of  Oifaly,  the  royal  exchequer  eighty  marks  to  Art  MacMor- 
rogh  as  tribute,  and  large  portions  of  the  common  people  within 
reach  of  English  rule  were  of  Irish  birth,  habit  and  language.  Be- 
yond  this  limited  space  of  twenty  miles  square  stretched  what  were 
called  the  marches,  and  only  there  by  payment  of  black  rent  could 
proprietors  of  alien  race  retain  any  part  of  their  possessions. 

All  around  the  English  precincts,  the  liberties  swarmed  with  kerns, 
light  armed  infmtry  with  "jivelins,  darts  and  skcynes,"  or  Avith 
gallow-glasses  "with  iron  helmet,  coat  of  mail,  cuirass  and  battle 
axe,"  formidable  antagonists  even  for  men-at-arms,  "  with  bas- 
nets, sallets,  visor,  spear,  axe,  sword  and  dagger,"  or  for  archers 
"with  jack  of  defence,  salet,  sword  and  sheaf  of  forty  arrow^s." 
The  Irish  soldiers  were  not  always  arrayed  upon  the  side  of  their 
countrymen,  bat  retained  for  protection  against  their  forays  and 
raarauds  by  the  fL-w  colonists  that  ventured  to  remain  in  2)ositions  so 
exposed.  Beyond  the  marches,  accessible  to  enemies  only  through 
dense  forests  and  {)asses  easily  defended,  dwelt  the  septs  with  fields 
well  tilled  and  well  stocked  pastures.  Their  laws  were  framed  with 
ample  provisions  to  prevent  disagreement,  and  their  chieftains,  whose 
election  depended  upon  their  consent,  led  them  in  war  and  studied 
their  interests.  It  is  not  surprising  that  they  should  have  preferred 
their  own  system  to  the  venality  and  corruption  which  marked  every 
department  of  English  administration,  or  that,  at  one  period  in 
Munstcr,  the  English  themselves  should  have  adopted  it  in  preference 
to  their  own. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  161 

The  O'Connors  were  still  restless.  Circumstances  already  stated 
and  many  foreign  elements  besides  contributed  to  stir  up  strife. 
They  captured  in  1400  the  castle  of  Dunamon  from  the  Burkes. 
For  ]\Iulconry  the  renowned  historian  of  Sil  Murray  accidentally 
slain  in  the  assault,  an  eric  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  cows  Mna 
paid  to  his  family  by  Garv  who  slew  him.  O'Hanly,  O'Kelly, 
O'^NIally  and  many  other  chiefs  after  long  periods  of  prosperous  rule 
died  at  advanced  ages  in  their  beds.  McDermot  in  asserting  his  su- 
premacy over  his  sept  fell  at  Lough  Loubain  in  1405.  The  next 
year  Turlogh  Don  king  of  Connaught  was  slain  by  Cathal  son  of 
O'Connor  Roe  and  the  Burkes.  Cathal  son  of  Roderick  succeeded, 
but  his  rule  was  contested.  He  was  captured  after  the  battle  of  Kil- 
leachy  by  the  O'Kellys  and  MacDermots  in  1407,  and  though  he  lived 
a  third  of  a  century  longer  he  was  of  little  account,  his  sept  having 
been  broken  up  into  feeble  fragments. 

A  curious  incident  is  related  connected  with  the  marauds  of  the 
period.  A  party  of  English  had  invaded  Offaly,  and  Calvagh  son 
of  its  chief  went  in  pursuit.  It  chanced  as  he  was  overtaking  the 
plunderers-  who  were  not  aware  of  his  approach  he  met  a  kern  bring- 
ing back  to  him  a  brazen  cauldron  used  for  brewing  beer  which  he 
had  lent  to  one  of  his  neighbors.  Calvagh  flung  a  stone,  possibly 
the  missile  earlier  described  as  part  of  the  military  equipment,  at 
the  cauldron,  and  the  deafening  sound  of  its  reverberations  startlinof 
the  marauders,  they  incontinently  took  to  flight,  three  hundred  of 
them  being  put  to  the  sword  in  the  pursuit.  The  mitre  of  St.  Pat- 
rick a  precious  relic  kept  at  Elphin  was  recovered  on  this  occasion 
from  the  English. 

Turlogh  the  peaceable  still  ruled  over  Tyrconnel,  defeating  the 

Kinel  Owen  who  invaded  his  territories.     Two  years  later  he  made 

peace   with  their  chieftain  at  Cael  Uisge.     In   1402  he  drove  out 

from  his  dominions  Brian  O'Xeil  son  of  Henry,  who  lost  his  life  in 

the  expedition,  spoiling  the  O'Kanes  and  Carbury,  and  in   1411  the 
21 


162  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

O'Rourkes.  On  the  death  of  Nial  Oge  of  Tyrone,  his  son  Owen 
was  not  accepted  as  chieftain,  but  Donnel  the  son  of  Hemy,  his 
cousin,  succeeded  by  the  rules  of  tanistry.  In  1410  Donnel  was 
captured  by  Mac  Mahon  of  Oriel  and  surrendered  to  his  son-in- 
law  .Owen,  who  entrusted  him  to  Maguire,  by  whom  he  was  delivered 
up  to  the  English.  His  brother  Hugh  had  been  ten  years  a  captive 
in  the  castle  of  Dublin.  They  both  escaped.  Donnel  was  reinstated 
to  be  again  driven  out  seven  years  later  by  Owen,  aided  by  Turlogh 
of  Tyrconnel,  and  when  in  1432  Donnel  was  slain,  Owen  was  inau- 
gurated, and  reigned  twenty-four  years. 

Art  was  not  to  be  trifled  with  ;  he  renewed  the  war  till  reparation 
was  made  him  for  his  wife's  inheritance,  and  in  1402  took  part 
with  the  Geraldines  against  the  Butlers.  In  1404  O'Moore  de- 
feated the  English  at  Athdown,  and  the  next  year  Art  harried 
Wexford  and  Carlow,  but  with  O'Nolan  was  'routed  in  1407  after 
a  hotly  contested  combat  by  Scrope,  Ormond  and  Desmond,  who 
then  attacked  O'Carrol  of  Ely  at  Callan,  that  chief  and  eight  hun- 
dred of  his-  followers  fallin"^  in  the  fio^ht.  This  success  was 
attributed  by  English  chroniclers  to  a  special  miracle  in  their  favor, 
the  sun  standing  still  that  day  as  related  in  Holy  Writ  for  Joshua. 
O'Carrol  a  patron  of  learning  had  been  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome, 
and  on  his  return  been  entertained  by  king  Richard  at  London. 
The  next  year  Art  came  off*  again  victorious,  and  in  1413  he  gained 
a  decisive  victory  in  Wexford.  O'Byrnes  were  equally  successful 
against  a  force  from  Dublin,  and  O'Connor  Faly  captured  the  sheriff 
of  Meath  and  many  knights  and  gentlemen,  holding  them  to  ransom. 

O'Sullivan  Mor  at  war  with  McCarthy,  lord  of  Desmond,  was 
drowned  in  a  naval  engagement,  but  his  successor  with  better  for- 
tune drove  McCarthy  out  of  Munster.  Later  taken  prisoner,  he 
was  deprived  of  his  sight  by  Donnel  Duv,  and  his  son  Owen  was 
slain.  Gilla  Mochuda,  grandson  of  the  first  lord  of  the  Reeks  of 
Killarney,  fell  in  a  family  feud  in   1411.      Such  incidents  would 


I 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  163 

seem  to  confirm  tlie  view  taken  by  "\Yriglit,  but  quarrels  cndino-  in 
bloodslied  were  not  confined  to  the  Irisli.  Dowdall,  sheriff  of  Louth, 
was  set  upon  and  killed  by  Whites  and  Verdon,  who  were  pardoned 
by  the  king.  Donuel  O'Brien  fell  in  combat  with  lord  Barry, 
O'Connor  of  Offaly  with  Meiler  Bermingham.  Gihnory  burnt 
forty  churches,  held  Savage  to  ransom,  and  then  put  him  to  death, 
but  was  himself  slain  bv  his  kinsmen  in  a  church,  Maarennis  was 
killed  by  his  own  people.  But  this  period  when  the  septs  had  regain- 
ed most  of  their  possessions  was  marked  by  iew  instances  compara- 
tively either  of  family  feuds  or  deaths  by  violence. 

During  the  previous  century  alien  lords  had  abounded  in  Mun- 
ster.  Besides  Ormond  and  Desmond,  the  marquis  of  Carew  had 
enjoyed  revenues  of  twenty-two  hundred  pounds  sterling,  Barnwall 
sixteen  hundred,  Cogan  of  Green  castle  thirteen  thousand,  Balram 
of  Enfort  thirteen  hundred,  Courcy  of  Kilbritton  twelve  hundred, 
I\Iandeville  of  Barrenstallie  twelve  hundred,  Arundel  of  the  Strand 
fif\een  hundred,  Steiney  of  Baltimore  eight  hundred,  Eoche  of 
Poole  one  thousand,  Barry  eighteen  hundred.  There  were  more- 
over knights,  esquires,  gentlemen  and  yeomen,  to  a  great  number 
who  might  expend  yearly  from  eight  hundred  to  twenty.  The  in- 
habitants of  Youghal,  Cork  and  Kinsale,  were  now  complainino- 
that  these  proprietors  had  fallen  at  variance  and  called  in  the  Irish 
to  help  them  in  tlieir  quarrels,  who  soon  became  the  stronger,  and 
drove  them  out  or  reduced  them  to  subjection.  Before  this  century 
closed,  besides  Desmond,  Courcy  and  Barry,  few  were  to  be  left 
of  any  account. 

What  Gilbert  tells  us  of  English  rule  in  Ireland  at  this  period 
sufficiently  explains  how  it  'came  to  naught.  lie  says :  "  The 
internal  condition  of  the  settlement,  and  the  manifold  injustices 
perpetrated  by  the  officials  of  the  colonial  government  on  every 
one  under  their  control  tended  to  repel,  rather  than  to  attract, 
the  independent   Irish   towards    the   English  system,  as  then   ad- 


164  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

ministered.      Many  of  the  judges  and  chief  legal   officials   of  the 
colony  were  illiterate  and  ignorant  of  law,  obtained  their  appoint- 
ments by  purchase,  and  leased  them  to  deputies,  who  promoted  and 
encouraged  litigation,  with  the  object  of  accumulating  fees.     Com- 
missioners of   Oyer  and  Terminer  were    multiplied,    before  whom 
persons  were  constantly  summoned,  by  irresponsible  non-residents, 
to  such  an  extent,  that  no  man  could  tell  when  he  might  be  indicted 
or   outlawed,    or   if  a   process    had   issued  to  eject  him  from  his 
property.     The  king's  officers  often  seized  lands,  and  appropriated 
their  rents,  so  long  as  legal  subterfuges  enabled  them  to  baffle  the 
claims  of  the   rightful   proprietors ;    and  thus  agriculture  and  im- 
provements  were    impeded.      Ecclesiastics,    lords    and   gentlemen, 
were  not  unfrequently  cast  into  jail  by  officers  of  the  crown,  on  un- 
founded  charges,   without   indictment  or  process,  and  detained  in 
durance   till   compelled,    by   rigorous  treatment,  to  purchase  their 
liberation.     The  agricultural  settlers  and  landholders  were  harassed 
by    troops   of  armed  Mverns'  and  mounted  'idel-men,'  who   levied 
distresses,    maltreated    and    chained    those  who  resisted,    and    held 
forcible  possession  of  the  farmers'  goods,  till  redeemed  with  money. 
"  The  troops,  engaged  for  the  defence  of  the  colonists,  became  little 
less    oppressive    than    enemies.      Under    the    name   of  ^  livere,'    or 
livery,  the  soldiery  took,  without  payment,  victuals  for  themselves, 
and   provender   for  their    horses,   and  exacted  weekly  money  pay- 
ments,   designated    'coygnes.'       It  was  not  unusual  for  a  soldier, 
having  a  billet  for  six  or  more  horses,  to  keep  only  three,  but  to 
exact  pi^o vender  for  the  entire  number;   and  on  a  single  billet,  the 
same  trooper  commonly  demanded  and  took  Mivery'  in  several  parts 
of  a  county.     The  constables  of  royal  castles,  and  the  purveyors  of 
the    households   of  the  viceroys,  seldom  paid  for  what  they  took ; 
and  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  bribes,  to  release  their  seizures, 
they  made    exactions  much    more    frequently  than  needed.     These 
grievances,  wrote  the  prelates,  lords  and  commons,  to  the  king  of 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  165 

England,  have  reduced  your  loyal  subjects,  in  Ireland,  to  a  state 
of  destruction  and  impoverishment,  and  caused  them  even  to  hate 
their  lives. 

"Most  of  the  king's  manors,  customs  and  other  sources  of  reve- 
nue, havino;  been  irranted  or  sold  to  individuals,  but  little  came 
into  the  treasury  of  the  fees,  fines,  and  crown  profits,  which 
previously  had  defrayed  part  of  the  expenses  of  the  colonial  govern- 
ment. These  reduced  finances  were  nearly  exhausted  by  pensions 
and -annuities,  paid  to  propitiate  the  chiefs  of  the  border  Irish,  and 
to  secure  the  settlement  aoainst  their  inroads.  Various  oood  towns 
and  hamlets  of  the  colony  were  destroyed,  while  several  royal  castles 
and  fortresses  became  ruinous,  as  those  in  charge  of  them  embezzled 
the  rents  and  profits,  allocated  for  their  maintenance,  repairs  and 
garrisons." 

Thus  corrupt,  English  authority  relaxed  its  hold  on  the  people 
it  was  powerless  to  restrain,  and  secured  partial  immunity  from 
molestation  by  paying  tribute.  Its  exclusive  policy  yielded  to 
necessity.  Encouragement  to  trade  with  the  septs  took  the  place  of 
prohibition.  English  proprietors  on  the  borders  gladly  leased  their 
lands  at  moderate  rents  to  Irisli  tenants,  who  were  thus  enabled 
often  to  regain  their  own.  Fosterage  of  English  children  with 
Irish  nurses,  and  intermarriages  between  the  races,  became  com- 
mon, and  were  openly  sanctioned.  Mac  jNlahon  in  Louth  and 
other  chieftains  did  what  seemed  to  them  good  with  impunity,  and 
Tibetot,  speaker  of  the  house  of  commons,  admitted  that  the 
gTcater  part  of  Ireland  had  been  conquered  by  the  natives. 

The  Irish  annalists  dwell  little  on  details  of  domestic  life,  but 
mention  many  deaths  of  chiefs  and  scholars.  They  tell  us  that 
O'Rourke,  heir  to  BrefFney,  powerful,  energetic  and  comely,  was 
slain  in  his  own  house  by  the  Danish  clan  of  MacCabes ;  that 
O'Dowd,  universally  distinguished  for  his  nobleness  and  hospitality  ; 
that  Conor,  son  of  the  lord  of  Hy-Many,  the  serpent  of  his  tribe 


166  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

arid  of  all  Ireland ;  that  Conor  MacDermot,  a  bear  in  vigor ;  that 
Mahon  MacNamara  on  his  way  to  Rome  ;  that  O'Gormly,  heir  to 
Kinalmoen  ;  that  O'Kelly,  archbishop  of  Connaught,  eminent  for 
wisdom,  hospitality  and  piety ;  that  Conor,  son  of  Ivor  O'Hanly, 
of  Kinel  Dofa,  on  the  Shannon  ;  Donnel  O'Hara,  heir  to  Leyny ; 
that  O'Farrell  who  had  never  been  reproached ;  Conor  O'Doherty, 
lord  of  Inishowen,  generous  to  the  wretched  and  poor ;  besides 
numberless  other  chiefs,  poets  and  brehons,  passed  out  of  life. 
Another  death  is  mentioned  of  a  different  character. 

When  whiskey  or  usquebaugh  was  first  introduced  into  Ireland 
does  not  appear,  but  its  earliest  recorded  victim,  Richard  Mac  Ran- 
nall  heir  to  the  chieftainry  of  Muinter  Eolais,  died  in  conse- 
quence of  drinkhig  too  much  of  it  at  Clmstmas  tide  in  1405.  It  is 
subject  of  controversy  whence  the  name  was  derived.  Uisge, 
in  Inishowen  in  Donegal,  the  burial  place  of  Owen  son  of  Nial  of 
.  the  nine  hostages,  who  died  in  465  of  grief  for  the  loss  of  his  brother 
Conal,  and  from  whom  his  descendants  took  the  name  of  the 
Kinel  Owen,  lay  not  far  removed  from  the  abode  of  the  Mac  Rannals. 
Human  ingenuity  readily  devises  what  suits  its  needs,  and  the  hu- 
midity of  the  climate  and  soil  of  the  island  affecting  the  vegetable 
products  used  for  food  required  correctives  tonic  in  their  nature, 
drying  up  moisture,  and  less  inflammatory  than  the  distillations  of 
the  grape.  Such  beverages  adapted  to  a  wet  climate  prove  delete- 
rious in  a  dry,  and  Americans  are  losing  their  taste  for  what  expe- 
rience proves  prejudicial  to  healtli,  and  if  in  Ireland  from  poverty 
and  inadequate  nourishment  its  use  was  once  carried  to  excess  it 
is  less  so  now.  It  is  not  supposed  that  in  the  fifteenth  century  po- 
tations stronger  than  ale  and  wine  were  common.  But  that 
the  latter  might  prove  a  dangerous  temptation  is  indicated  by  the 
following  incident. 

The    sons  of  Ith   at  Baltimore  were    troublesome   neighbors    to 
Waterford.   .  Christmas    night  its  mayor  arrived  off  the   castle  of 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  167 

O'Driscoll  with  a  cargo  of  wine,  and  bringing  presents  and  claiming 
hospitality  his  purpose  was  not  suspected,  and  he  re^'eived  cordial 
welcome  to  the  family  banquet.  In  the  midst  of  the  dance  which 
formed  part  of  the  festal  entertainment  a  force  sufficient  to  over- 
power the  host  and  those  of  his  kinsmen  who  were  present,  con- 
trived to  take  them  at  disadvantage  and  carried  them  prisoners  to 
Waterford. 


XXII. 

REIGN    OF    HENRY   V.  — 1413-1422. 

Stanley  for  the  fifth  time  viceroy  landed  at  Clontarf  in  September. 
Age  had  not  im[)roved  his  disposition.  Enriching  himself  by  his 
rapacity  he  yet  left  his  debts  unpaid.  Neither  clergy,  laity,  nor  men 
of  science  received  mercy  at  his  hands.  Plunderino^  Nial  O'Hiafo-in 
hereditary  bard  at  Usnagh  in  Meath,  the  poet,  with  his  own  special 
weapons  of  retaliation,  lampooned  him  to  death.  Henry  D'Alton, 
indignant  at  any  injustice  to  a  class  so  sacred  as  the  poets,  swept 
down  upon  the  pale  and  from  his  prey  made  ample  reparation. 
This  was  not  Xial's  first  exploit  of  the  sort.  When  the  Clan  Con- 
way wronged  him  at  Cladan,  his  venomous  shafts  turned  them  all 
grey  in  a  night. 

Crawley,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  "greatly  praised  for  his  liberality, 
a  good  almsman,  a  great  clerk,  a  doctor  of  divinity,  an  excellent 
preacher,  a  great  builder,  beautiftd,  courteous,  of  a  sanguine  com- 
plexion and  of  tall  statm-e,  was  elected  by  the  council  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Stanley.  But  being  nearly  fourscore 
he  prayed  at  castle  Dermod  whilst  piior  Butler  and  the  bisliop  of 
Ferns  marched  against  the  septs.  O'Connor  of  OfFaly  and  Mageo- 
glian  put  the  priests  to  rout,  carrying  off  many  prisoners,  slaying  a 
baron  and  receivini^  fourteen    hundred  marks  ransom  for  his  son. 


168  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Sir  John  Talbot  lord  of  Verdon  lands  in  Meath,  then  forty-one 
years  of  age,  oame  over  in  November,  1414.  Calling  out  the  whole 
English  strength  he  organized  it  into  bodies  of  twenty,  one  hundred 
and  a  thousand,  arrested  outlaws,  seized  upon  children  at  fosterage, 
plundered  Dalys,  Magrath  and  Mac  Keogh  the  poets  and  spared 
neither  church  nor  sanctuary.  He  twice  hai-ried  Leix  for  six  days, 
razed  two  castles,  built  a  bridge  at  Athy  duly  defended,  forced  the 
O'Moore  and  O'Keating  to  sue  for  peace.  He  compelled  the  former 
to  march  w^ith  him  forty  leagues  to  assist  in  reducing  the  MacMahons 
Avho  in  their  turn  w^ere  forced  to  join  him  in  reducing  the  O'Connors. 
O'Byrnes,  O'Tooles  and  Cavanaghs,  O'Dempsys,  O'Molloys, 
O'Ferrals,  O'Reilys,  0"Hanlons,  even  the  O'Neils  and  O'Donnells 
submitted.  Talbot's  strong  arm  laid  heavy  on  English  lord  as  on 
Irish  chieftain.  His  extortions,  the  coin  and  livery  he  exacted,  his 
raid  on  the  Geraldines  who  held  as  prisoner  the  unfortunate  earl 
who  had  married  for  love,  pi-ovoked  resentment.  His  return  home 
in  1415  gave  but  brief  respite.  Art  McMorrogh  grown  old  died  in 
1417,  and  Talbot  soon  after  seized  upon  his  son  and  successor 
Donogh,  who  was  imprisoned  in  the  tower  of  London,  Talbot  being 
allowed  by  the  king  to  extort  from  him  what  ransom  he  could.  He 
purchased  O'Connor  of  OfFaly  from  De  Freigne  who  had  captured 
him,  but  O'Connor  escaped  and  his  venture  was  lost.  In  Ulster 
Magennis  and  O'Neil  of  Clanaboy  gave  him  a  check  and  many  of  his 
soldiers  were  slain. 

His  services  being  needed  elsewhere  his  brother  Richard,  now 
archbishop  of  Dublin  left  as  deputy,  arrested  Kildare,  Preston  and 
Belle w,  for  conniving  with  the  prior  of  Kilmainhann  to  subvert  his 
authority.  Richard  made  way  in  1420  for  the  fourth  earl  of  Or- 
mond,  before  whom  upon  his  arrival  two  of  his  kinsmen  fought  a 
wager  of  battle,  one  being  killed  and  the  other  grievously  wounded. 
The  earl  iiivaded  Leix  with  some  success  and  De  Burgh  in  the  west 
defeated  the  O'Kellys.     At  the  same  time,  O'Connor  Faly  gained  a 


TRANSFER     OP     ERIN.  109 

victoiy  over  a  portion  of  the  English  troops,  obtaining  considerable 
spoil  and  what  they  especially  valued,  arms  and  armor  and  accoutre- 
ments. Parliament  when  convened  harped  on  the  old  grievances  of 
maladministration  and  extortion,  illegal  arrests,  illiterate  officials, 
plurality  of  offices,  and  that  the  inns  of  court  at  London  allowed  no 
Anglo-Irish  to  study  law.  In  1416  statutes  forbade  all  ecclesiastical 
preferment  to  Irishmen,  prohibited  their  leaving  the  island  without 
permission,  and  ordered  all  Englishmen  holding  official  positions  in 
Ireland  to  return  to  them. 

It  enforced  the  old  law  asfanst  intermarrias'es  between  the  races,  a 
rule  now  unjustly  applied  to  the  earl  of  Desmond.  After  Gerald 
the  poet  disappeared  in  1398,  or  according  to  another  account  was 
slain  by  the  O'Briens,  John  his  eldest  son  the  fifth  earl  succeeded, 
and  after  holding  the  earldom  for  a  year  was  drowned  in  the  river 
Suir.  His  only  son  Thomas,  the  sixth,  hunting  near  Tralee,  and 
benighted,  took  refuge  under  the  roof  at  Abbeyfeale  of  William 
Mac  Cormac,  with  whose  beautiful  daughter  Catherine  he  became 
enamored.  This  imprudent  marriage  with  one  of  inferior  rank 
alienating  from  him  the  respect  and  favor  of  his  worldly-minded  kins- 
men and  followers,  it  afforded  an  opportunity  to  his  ambitious  and 
stronger  minded  uncle,  James  the  seventh  earl,  to  supplant  him. 
Thomas,  after  long  and  obstinate  resistance  twice  driven  from  his 
estates  and  detained  in  durance,  on  the  plea  that  his  marriage  con- 
flicted with  the  law  prohibiting  such  connections  between  the  races, 
was  deposed  in  1418,  and  by  the  interposition  of  OnnonJhad  as- 
signed to  him  with  Moyallow  and  Broghill,  Kilcolman,  afterwards 
the  abode  of  Spencer,  and  which  his  descendant  Raymond  forfeited 
with  his  life  under  Elizabeth.  The  elder  branch  still  continues  under 
the  name  of  Adair  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.  The  unfortunate 
Thomas  repaired  to  France,  perhaps  to  procure  redress  from  the 
king,  who  attended  his  funeral  obsequies  as  a  kinsman  when  he  died 

soon  after  at  Ilouen  in  1420.     They  were  not  very  nearly  related, 
22 


170  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Henry's  mother  Mary  de  Bohun  having  been  niece  once  removed  of 
Elinor  wife  of  the  first  Ormond,  from  whom  the  earl  of  Desmond 
descended.  The  new  earl  was  already  in  the  prime  and  vigor  of 
middle  life  when  he  succeeded  his  nephew.  His  marriage  with  Mary 
daughter  of  Ulick  lord  of  Clanrickard  strengthened  his  positionw 
He  was  appointed  by  the  lord  lieutenant,  senischal  for  life  of 
Imokilly,  Inchiquin  and  Youghall ;  and  in  1422  made  constable  of 
Limerick. 

Ormond  in  1419,  invested  with  ample  powers  as  viceroy,  used 
them  in  repressing  alike  the  septs  and  the  refractory  English.  His 
parliaments  granted  liberal  subsidies.  He  vanquished  O'Moore  and 
his  ''terrible  army"  at  the  red  bog  of  Athy,  reduced  O'Dempsywho 
had  taken  possession  of  the  castle  of  Ley  belonging  to  the  earl  of 
Kildare ;  and  MacMahon  of  Orgial  who  had  spread  havoc  over  the 
English  possessions.  Whilst  employed  in  these  military  movements, 
the  clergy  of  Dublin  went  twice  each  week  in  solemn  procession  to 
the  cathedral  to  pray  for  his  success.  Submission  under  coercion 
lasted  only  so  long  as  power  overawed.  In  1420  the  parliament  re- 
presented that  little  more  than  the  single  county  of  Dublin  remained 
in  the  undisturbed  possession  of  the  English,  that  Limerick,  Tippe- 
rary,  Kilkenny  and  Wexford,  Meath,  Orgial,  Carlow  and  Kildare 
were  in  the  possession  of  native  chiefs  or  degenerate  English  or 
under  tribute  to  them. 

In  the  last  parliament  of  this  reign  Richard  O'Hedian,  archbishop 
of  Cashei,  was  tried  on  thirty  articles  of  accusation  brought  against 
him,  chiefly  for  partiality  shown  to  his  own  countrymen  in  promot- 
ing Irish  clerks  to  benefices,  for  harboring  the  design  of  making 
himself  king  of  Munster  and  giving  his  concubine  a  ring,  the  pious 
offering  of  Desmond  to  St.  Patrick.  In  representations  to  the  king 
on  the  state  of  the  island,  the  oppressions  and  extortions  of  the 
deputies  and  their  appropriating  to  their  own  use  the  royal  revenues 
are  especially  dwelt  upon.     They  urged  the  prosecutions  of    th^ 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  171 

bonds  given  to  the  apostolic  chamber,  andcomphiiu  that  huulholders, 
artificers  and  workmen  were  deserting  the  country. 

Among  feminine  accomplishments  in  vogue  at  this  period  one  is 
noted  for  which  the  lakes  that  abound  in  the  island  afforded  peculiar 
facilities.  Richard  O'Reilly  king  of  Cavan  with  his  son  and  many 
distinguished  persons,  whilst  on  an  expedition  to  meet  the  English 
in  1418  in  the  royal  barge,  met  with  disaster  from  squall  or  other 
peril  on  Logh  Finvoy,  and  were  all  drowned.  Finola  Mac  Rannall, 
wife  of  Richard,  escaped  by  swimming. 


xxm. 

"^  REIGN    OF    HENRY    VI. 1422-1461. 

An  order  simply  chronological  in  presenting  the  history  of  Ireland 
is  not  calculated  to  convey  to  the  reader  the  fullest  information  or 
very  clear  impressions,  either  as  regards  character  or  events.  So  little 
connection  is  found  to  exist  between  what  was  taking  place  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  island,  tha,t  whilst  it  has  been  thought  best  to  follow 
the  generally  accepted  division  of  the  subject  into  periods  embraced 
by  the  reigns  of  the  English  monarchs,  what  concerns  the  administra- 
tion at  Dublin,  or  affects  Anglo-Irish' lords  or  sept  and  chieftain, 
will  be  kept  as  distinct  as  its  complications  permit. 

The  succession  of  viceroys  as  a  guide  to  the  course  of  affairs  has 
the  first  claim  to  attention,  since  it  enters  as  an  element  of  greater  or 
less  importance  into  occurrences  all  over  the  island,  but  their  author- 
ity was  so  circumscribed  and  so  little  respected  as  to  be  hardly  felt 
beyond  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  capital.  Ormond  was  soon 
superseded  by  Richard  Talbot  archbishop  of  Dublin,  followed  by  Ed- 
mund Mortimer  for  whom  Dantsy  bishop  of  Meath  acted  as  deputy. 
On  the  defeat   of  an  English  army  in  Meath,    Ormond  sent  over 


172  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

with  a  strong  force  checked  for  a  time  the  chiefs  of  Ulster.  Morti- 
mer arrived  soon  after,  but  died  of  the  plague  at  his  own  castle  of 
Trim  in  February,  1424.  Talbot  again  lord  lieutenant  remained  for 
a  year,  and  upon  his  departure  Ormond  pursued  the  same  repressive 
policy.  MacMahon  and  O'Toole  surrendered  the  lands  they  had 
taken  from  English  settlers,  relinquishing  their  black  rent,  and 
O'Xeil,  Donnel  the  Soft,  the  revenues  belonging  to  the  earls  of  Ul- 
ster, and  after  the  death  of  Mortimer  acknowledged  fealty  to  his 
nephew  and  heir  the  duke  of  York. 

This  submission  was  in  latin,  with  which  language  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  suppose  O'Neil  but  imperfectly  acquainted,  and  it  is  quite 
jDrobable  that  in  this  as  in  many  similar  transactions  of  the  kind 
with  Irish  chiefs,  the  covenants  and  obligations  set  forth  in  the  in- 
strument, even  though  signed  and  sworn  to,  were  not  understood. 
If  assumed  under  duress  or  with  any  misrepresentation  as  to  their 
meaning,  he  may  not  have  considered  them  of  any  binding  vali- 
dity either  in  honor  or  conscience.  It  is  incredible  that  under  the 
actual  circumstances  he  should  have  known  their  purport. 

Sir  John  de  Grey  held  the  office  of  viceroy  for  a  year  spent  in 
feeble  efforts  to  repress  the  MacMorroghs,  followed  in  142^  by  Sut- 
ton, lord  Dudley,  who  diligently  warred  with  the  O'Byrnes,  "  burn- 
ing and  destroying  corn  and  houses,  breaking  down  castles,  cutting 
their  woods  and  passes,  making  great  slaughter,"  but  it  was  intima- 
ted that  notwithstanding  these  active  measures  the  country  was  in 
great  danger  of  being  lost.  The  enemies  of  Ormond  gave  it  to  be 
understood  secretly  to  the  council  at  home  that  his  courses  were  des- 
tructive and  ruinous,  and  that  he  ought  to  be  removed.  To  guard 
the  borders  of  Louth,  peculiarly  exposed  to  forays  from  the  Ulster 
septs,  ten  pounds  were  offered  to  any  subjects  who  within  five  years 
should  erect  castle  or  tower,  twenty  feet  long  by  sixteen  broad  and 
forty  high.  English  merchants  and  the  colonists  generally  were 
prohibited  from  resorting  to  fairs  or  markets  of  the  Irish,  or  send- 
ing them  commodities  unless  for  ransom  to  redeem  prisoners. 


TEANSFER     OF     E  E  I  N  .  173 

Meanwhile,  the  colonists,  despoiled  by  both  friend  and  foe,  were 
deserting-  the  island.  Representations  were  made  that  the  deplorable 
state  of  the  country  resulted  less  from  maladministration,  which  was 
sufficiently  bad,  than  from  enormities  pi'actised  by  the  Irish,  insti- 
gated by  the  nobility  and  gentry.  Stanley,  sent  over  in  1431, 
found  Butlers  and  Talbots  at  vai-iance,  Dundalk  paying  tribute  to 
O'Xeil,  Armagh  to  O'Connor,  Waterford  in  ruins,  one  hundred  and 
forty-eight  castles  lately  defensible  in  Carlow  demolished.  Munster 
^yas  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  and  the  walled  towns  of  Kilkenny, 
Ross,  Wexford,  Kinsale  Youghall,  Clonmel,  Kilmallock,  Thomas- 
town,  Carrick,  Fethard  and  Cashel  on  the  point  of  famishing,  their 
supplies  being  cut  off.  Connaught  had  relapsed  under  Irish  control, 
for  Burkes  and  Birminghams  were  virtually  Irish,  no  governor 
having  been  seen  in  Galway  or  Athenry  for  forty  years.  Even 
Ormond,  whose  kinsmen  had  intermarried  with  the  McMurroghs, 
O'Carrols  and  O'Reillys,  and  who  was  personally  popular  Avith  the 
septs,  had  lost  most  of  his  domains.  O'Xeil,  aided  by  Connors, 
Molloys,  jNladdens,  McLaghlins  and  McGeoghans,  warred  success 
fully  against  the  English,  and  MclSIorrogh,  who  for  seven  years  had 
been  prisoner  in  the  Tower  and  had  recently  escaped,  marched  an 
army  to  the  walls  of  Dublin. 

When  in  1432  Stanley  contrived  to  capture  Nial  chief  of  Tyrcon- 
nel,  O'Connor  his  son-in-law  resenting  his  long  imprisonment  in  Lon- 
don obtained  possession  in  1438  of  William  Welles  soon  after  his 
appointment  as  his  brother's  deputy.  In  order  to  effect  the  release  of 
the  viceroy  several  prisoners  in  Dublin  were  set  at  liberty  and  ±sial 
sent  over  to  the  Isle  of  Man  to  be  included  in  the  arrangement,  but 
he  died  the  following  year  before  it  could  be  consummated  as  regarded 
him.  Lord  Welles  held  his  office  till  1442,  Ormond  his  kins- 
man performing  its  functions  as  deputy  when  he  was  absent  from 
the  island.  The  Talbot  faction  fearing  that  Ormond  would  be 
appointed  lord-lieutenant  and  their  influence  prevailing  in  the  par- 


174  TRANSFER     OF     EKIN. 

liament  of  1441,  charges  were  brought  against  him  and  repre- 
sentations made  to  the  kinsr  that  some  Enjjlish  lord  not  born  in 
Ireland  could  execute  the  laws  with  more  efficiency  and  justice  than 
any  Irishman,  and  that  his  interests  demanded  a  man  of  vigor  and 
activity  in  the  field  as  well  as  council ;  that  Ormond  was  aged,  un- 
wieldy and  unlusty  to  labor,  and  had  lost  in  substance  all  his  castles, 
towns  and  lordships  ;  and  it  was  not  likely  that  he  should  keep, 
conquer  or  get  any  grounds  to  tlie  king  who  had  thus  lost  his  own. 
Instances  were  adduced  of  tyranny  and  injustice  perpetrated  by  the 
earl  during  his  administration.  The  articles  drawn  up  by  Talbot 
were  not  entitled  to  weight,  and  Ormond  in  1442  was  appointed 
lord  lieutenant,  and  with  James  of  Desmond  as  his  friend  and 
confidant  set  at  defiance  the  machinations  of  his  enemies.  Little 
discouraged  by  their  recent  failure,  however,  they  persevered  in  their 
efforts  to   undermine  him  in  the  favor  of  the  young  king. 

They  found  unexpected  aid.  Desmond  had  become  too  powerful 
for  the  viceroy.  In  1438  he  had  purchased  of  Robert  Cogan  all  his 
lands  in  Ireland  comprising  half  the  county  of*  Cork  which  belonged 
of  right  to  the  heirs  general,  De  Courcy  and  Carew ;  in  1444  he  ob- 
tained a  patent  for  the  government  of  Limerick,  Waterford,  Cork 
and  Kerry,  with  license  to  absent  himself  during  life  from  attending 
all  future  parliaments  sending  a  sufficient  proxy,  and  to  purchase  any 
lands  he  pleased  by  what  service  soever  they  were  holden  of  the 
king.  The  family  of  the  Gherardini  of  Florence  sent  to  acknowledge 
him  as  kinsman.  His  daughter  Honora  had  married  the  eighth 
baron  of  Kerry,  and  Joan  the  seventh  earl  of  Kildare.  Occasions 
naturally  arising  for  question  and  dispute  between  him  and  the  vice- 
roy, controversy  led  to  jealousy  and  resentment.  Force  was  tried 
and  conciliation.  A  truce  between  them  was  agreed  to  for  a  year, 
but  the  breach  grew  wider  and  Desmond  went  over  to  the  enemies 
of  Ormond  and  intrigued  with  the  council  and  parliament  to  se- 
cure his  downfall. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.     ,  175 

Fifteen  fresh  charges  were  brought  against  him;  among  them, 
that  he  prevented  petitions  reaching  the  king  and  had  proposed  a 
bill  punishing  with  forfeiture  of  land  and  goods  all  who  should  make 
complaint  not  under  the  great  seal ;  that  his  real  object  was  to 
enrich  himself  by  these  forfeitures,  and  that  he  had  appropriated  to 
his  own  use  the  public  monies.  He  appealed  to  a  parliament  at 
Drogheda,  calling  upon  them  to  declare  in  what  he  had  offended,  to 
point  out  any  instance  in  which  the  subject  had  suffered  from  his  in- 
justice or  the  state  from  his  neglect.  The  parliament  convinced  of 
his  innocence  bore  witness  to  the  integrity  of  his  administration  and 
to  his  fidelity  and  services,  and  an  address  being  presented  to  the  king 
he  was  left  in  office. 

In  this  angry  contention  at  this  inopportune  moment  for  English 
interests,  between  him  and  archbishop  Talbot,  it  is  not  easy  to  deter- 
mine which  was  right,  if  either.  The  conclusion  of  Sir  Giles 
Thornton,  sent  over  to  investigate,  was  that  the  prevailing  misrule 
was  equally  attributable  to  both.  The  enemies  of  Ormond  were 
not  silenced.  He  was  summoned  to  London,  in  1444,  and  Thomas 
Fitzgerald,  prior  of  Kilmainham,  maintaining  the  truth  of  the  charges 
against  him,  proffered  wager  of  battle,  which  was  accepted.  The 
combat  was  prohibited  by  the  King,  who,  examining  the  parties,  de- 
cided in  favor  of  Ormond.  Henry  confided  the  government,  how- 
ever, to  one  of  the  opposite  faction.  Sir  John  Talbot,  created  earl 
of  Shrewsbury  as  also  now  of  Waterford  and  baron  of  Dungarvan,  for 
his  distinguished  services  in  France.  He  was  a  good  soldier,  but 
sorry  knight ;  for,  inviting  O'Reilly  to  Trim,  he  held  him  to  ransom. 
The  thirty  years  since  his  former  viceroyalty  had  not  improved  his 
temper,  and  it  was  said  of  him,  that  since  Herod,  there  had  been 
no   man  more  wicked. 

Bermingham  lord  of  Louth,  in  1443,  insulted  by  Barnwall  son  of 
the  treasurer  of  ]\Ieatl>,  by  a  caimin  or  filip  on  the  nose,  resorted 
to  O'Connor  Faly.      Calvagh  gladly  undertook  to  punish  the  offend- 


176  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

er  by  a  foray  against  the  English  which  proved  eminently  successful. 
Three  years  later  Talbot  forced  Calvagh  to  make  peace  and  to  ran- 
som his  son  who  had  fallen  into  his  possession.  This  was  a  source 
of  considerable  income  to  successful  warriors  in  fighting  days,  and  one 
we  have  already  seen  turned  to  good  account  by  this  famous  captain 
who  preserved  for  a  while  to  the  English  crown  its  possessions  in 
France.  His  forty -eight  battles  in  that  country  had  secured  him 
not  only  renown  but  the  earldoms  of  Shrewsbury  and  Waterford. 
He  perished  there  at  the  age  of  eighty  in  besieging  Chatillon,  and  with 
his  death  began  the  downfall  of  English  rule  in  France. 

The  successor  of  John  Talbot  was  Eichard,  duke  of  York,  earl 
of  Ulster,  lord  of  Connaught,  Leix,  Meath  and  Ossory,  which 
titles  he  had  inherited- from  Ann  Mortimer,  his  mother.  He  came 
over  in  the  summer  of  1449  with  his  wife,  Cecilia  Neville,  the  Rose 
of  Raby,  mother  of  Edward  IV.  and  Richard  HI.,  and  adopting  a 
conciliatory  policy,  Maginnis,  McMahon,  McArtan  and  O'Reilly 
joined  his  army  with  three  thousand  of  their  clansmen.  O'Neils, 
O'Farrels,  Mores,  Dempsys,  McMurroghs  and  Byrnes,  with  nearly 
all  the  English  lords,  swore  fealty  to  Henry  and  the  duke.  This 
friendly  spirit  may  be  attributed  to  their  appreciation  of  Richard's 
claims  as  the  true  heir.  It  could  have  proceeded  from  no  sense  of 
his  superior  power,  for  when  McGeoghan,  who  soon  after  took 
offence  at  some  injustice,  advanced  with  a  large  force  of  cavalry  to 
Mullingar,  he  made  concessions  and  amends. 

James  the  fourth  earl,  or  white  Ormond,  died  in  1452,  after  sack- 
ing the  fortresses  of  the  Mulryans  in  Limerick  and  of  the  O'Dempsys 
at  Leix,  makino-  a  successful  raid  into  Ulster  and  as  far  as  Lonc:- 
ford,  the  last  few  months  of  his  life.  His  son  was  appointed  vice- 
roy for  ten  years,  but  the  inveterate  strife  between  Butlers  and  Ger- 
aldines  "  causing  more  destruction  in  Kildare  and  Meath  than  any 
inflicted  by  Irish  or  English  enemies,  so  that  neither  life  nor  property 
were  safe,"  the  Duke  was  re-appointed,  after  St.  Albans  in  1455  be- 


I 


transfeu    of    erin.  177 

coming  protector  of  the  realm.  Deserted  by  some  of  his  adherents 
at  Ludlow,  he  betook  himself  to  Dublin,  where,  supported  by  the 
Geraldines,  he  was  recognized  as  viceroy,  the  parliament  declaring 
its  independence  of  that  of  England,  and  English  laws  and  process 
of  no  force  within  their  borders. 

Neither  Henry  nor  his  ministers  took  much  thought  of  Ireland. 
France  had  slipped  aw^ay  from  his  incompetent  fingers,  which  now 
and  then  by  some  feeble  clutch  sought  to  recover  firmer  hold  of  the 
island.  To  him  Irish  administration  consisted  of  occasional  marauds 
upon  chieftains  within  reach  and  off  their  guard,  and  when  a  few 
lives  were  taken  and  villages  burnt  its  duty  was  done.  That  govern- 
ment existed  for  the  benefit  of  the  governed,  rarely  crossed  the 
threshold  of  medieval  statesmanship.  Its  ends  were  answered  when 
the  territory  of  the  sovereign  was  extended  and  his  courtiers  concili- 
a^ted  by  gifts  and  place.  Spasmodic  efforts  of  useful  legislation  in 
England  to  prop  a  tottering  throne  were  rarely  wasted  across  the 
channel,  and  governors  set  over  Dublin  and  its  immediate  neighbor- 
hood indulged  no  other  aspirations  than  to  improve  their  own  condi- 
tion. That  fifteen  hundred  pounds  more  than  the  revenues  of 
the  kingdom  for  the  year  were  required  to  pay  the  viceroy  and  his 
ofl&cials,  affords  some  criterion  of  the  boasted  blessin<Ts  of  En2;lish 
rule  and  the  extent  of  its  power. 

Had  respect  for  their  own  ancient  laws  more  generally  actuated 
chief  and  sept,  this  wretched  rule  would  have  been  driven  out. 
Unfortunately  English  laws  of  inheritance  to  positions  of  authority 
were  more  in  accordance  with  human  nature,  contrasted  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  their  own  in  the  eyes  of  disinherited  sons  of  deceased 
chieftains,  whose  friends  often  helped  them  to  set  aside  their  legally 
elected  tanists.  Ulster  and  Connaught  lost  strength  by  such  disputed 
successions,  which  had  led  to  disinteoration  in  Munster  of  the  oriai- 
nally  consolidated  territory  of  the  O'Briens  and  MacCarthys.     They 

wrought  infinite  harm  all  over  the  island.     At  the  same  time  ^vhen 
23 


178  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

the  roll  of  chieftains  of  the  several  septs  is  examined,  it  occasions 
surprise  that  there  prevailed  so  late  as  the  fifteenth  century  such  strict 
observance  of  the  law,  and  that  so  many  of  them  lived  to  a  good  old 
age  at  peace  with  their  kinsmen  and  neighbors.  If  we  select 
Analy,  the  Breifnys,  Oriel  and  Fermanagh,  all  exposed  to  aggres- 
sion, or  even  Ulster,  and  group  the  facts  related  with  regard  to  each 
of  them,  the  imputation  that  they  were  constantly  engaged  in  mutual 
bloodshed  cannot  well  be  sustained. 

John  O'Farrell,  lord  of  Analy,  who  had  erected  in  1377  the  cas- 
tle of  Lasadawla,  "  learned  and  able,"  died  in  1399  ;  and  Donnel 
his  son  in  1435.  Ten  years  later  upon  the  death  of  William  "  after 
a  long  and  vii'tuous  life,"  Donnel  Boy  and  Rossa  contested  the  suc- 
cession and  the  territory  wasted  by  their  dispute  was  divided  between 
them.  Tiernan  O'Rourke,  who  had  been  lord  of  West  Breifny  for 
forty  years,  died  at  a  great  age  in  1418.  His  son  Owen  died  before 
him  at  the  age  of  sixty- three,  and  on  the  death  of  another  son  Hugh 
Boy,  eighteen  months  after,  Teigue  and  Art  contended  for  the  mas- 
tery. When  the  former  died  in  1435,  Donogh  son  of  Tiernan  , 
was  proclaimed,  and  when  he  too  passed  away  in  1455  Loughlin  son 
of  Teigue  his  competitor  succeeded. 

Thomas  Maguire,  lord  of  Fermanagh,  "  a  man  of  universal  hos- 
pitality toward  poor  and  mighty,  founder  of  monasteries  and  churches, 
and  giver  of  images,  peace-maker  for  many  chiefs  and  septs,  beloved 
by  all  conditions  for  the  excellence  of  his  administration,"  ended 
his  days  in  1430.  His  son  Thomas  Oge  was  installed  in  his  place 
by  the  laity  and  clergy  who  chose  his  kinsman  Phillip  tanist.  For 
reasons  not  assigned  the  tanist  in  1438  incurring  the  displeasure  of 
his  chieftain  was  cast  into  prison.  The  clan  disaifected  rose  in 
arms,  and  taking  possession  of  the  castle  transferred  the  fetters  from 
the  limbs  of  the  tanist  to  those  of  the  chief.  Henry  O'Neil  hasten- 
ed to  the  relief  of  his  vassal,  for  whose  release  his  wife,  daughter  of 
Mageoghan,   and   his  son  Edmund  were  detained  as  hostages,    and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  179 

Enniskillcn  surrendered  to  his  uncle  Donnal  who  had  sided  with  the. 
tanist.  Upon  the  relecase  of  P^dniund  that  castle  was  g-Iyen  to 
Pliillip  whose  son  slew  the  aggrieved  Donnal.  Whilst  the  chief  was 
on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  in  1450  his  son  Cathal  was  put  to  death 
by  his  uncle  Douogh,  for  which  atrocity  his  brother  Ednumd  maimed 
Donogh,  cutting  off  his  hand  and  foot. 

Phillip  the  tanist  for  the  rest  of  his  life  continued  loyal  to  his  chief. 
"  Charitable  and  humane  and  the  best  warrior  of  his  time,"  he  led  the 
clan  in  1457  against  Magauran,  invaded  Monaghan,  and  when  the  lord 
of  Leitrim  took  advantage  of  a  proposed  conference  to  assail  him  with 
superior  forces,  he  defeated  him  also,  adorning  his  castle  bawn  with 
the  heads  of  sixteen  O'Rom-kes.  He  fell  in  battle  with  the  O'Kanes, 
and  soon  after  his  death  in  1470  the  chief  who  had  taken  an  active 
part  in  all  the  wars  of  Tyrone  surrendered  the  chieftainship  to  his  son 
Edmund,  appointing  another  son  Donogh  tanist.  Eight  years  later 
he  closed  his  long  and  prosperous  career  and  was  buried  in  the  mon- 
astery at  Cavan,  receiving  from  the  annalist  like  praise  to  that  ac- 
corded to  his  father  half  a  century  before,  "that  he  ruled  over  Fer- 
managh for  half  a' century,  the  most  charitable,  pious  and  hospitable 
man  of  his  time,  founding  churches  and  monasteries  and  bestowing 
upon  them  chalices.''  Besides  his  pilgrimage  ah'eady  mentioned  to 
Rome  he  had  been  twice  to  the  shrine  of  St.  James  of  Campostella, 

Turlogh  an  Fhina  O'Donnel,  after  reigning  forty-two  years  re- 
tired in  1422  into  the  monastery  of  Assaroe,  where  he  died  the  follow- 
ing year.  His  son  Xial  inaugurated  chief  of  Tyrconnel  celebrated 
his  succession  by  an  expedition  into  Fermanagh,  subjugating  Ma- 
guire,  MacMahon,  Magennis,  Clanaboy  and  Bisset,  and  taking 
possession  of  Carrickfergus.  Owen  O'Xiel  tanist  of  Tyrone  in 
1421  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  Clanaboy,  on  his  way  to  visit  Or- 
mond  at  Dundalk,  but  the  next  year  was  ransomed  by  his  wife  and 
sons.  Xial  O'Donnel  and  Donnal  O'Xeil  invaded  the  territories  of 
Clanaboy  to  punish  this  high  handed  procedure,  and  thence  marched 


180  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

into  Connaught  to  protect  the  young  MacDonoglis  against  an  uncle 
who  had  erected  a  fortress  within  their  rightful  possessions. 
O'Dowd  submitted- to  them  and  O'Rourke  was  taken  captive.  The 
next  summer  these  two  great  chiefs  of  Ulster  still  in  amity  defeated 
the  English  in  Meath,  the  commander  of  the  enemy  being  killed  by 
Maelmora  MacSweeny,  O'Donnel's  constable.  Dundalk  was  laid 
under  tribute.  Nial  upon  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Tyrconnel 
erected  the  noble  castle  of  Ballyshannon,  which  long  continued  the 
principal  residence  of  the  chieftains  of  his  line. 

When  Edmund  Mortimer  came  over  as  lord  lieutenant  in  1425, 
the  three  O'Xeils,  Donnel  the  Soft,  Owen  son  of  Nial  Garve  the 
tanist  and  Clanaboy,  with  Naghtan  brother  of  the  O'Donnel,  Mac 
Quillin  and  O'Mellen,  keeper  of  the  bell  of  St.  Patrick  a  relick  still 
preserved,  went  to  his  castle  of  Trim  to  give  him  welcome.  Whilst 
there,  Mortimer  died  of  the  plague  and  Talbot  his  successor  con- 
trived to  take  them  prisoners.  Held  to  ransom  Donnel  O'Neil, 
Clanaboy  and  Mac  Quillin  paid  forthwith,  but  Owen  and  Naghtan 
were  taken  to  Dublin.  They  also  were  soon  ransomed,  Naghtan  by 
his  brother.  There  had  long  existed  an  unfriendly  feeling  between 
O'Neil  and  his  kinsman  and  tanist  Owen.  A  reconciliation  was 
now  brought  about.  They  probably  realized  from  this  late  act  of 
perfidy  the  importance  of  union,  and  cooperating  they  soon  recov- 
ered the  lands  which  had  been  lost  by  their  disputes.  Clanaboy  had 
been  deprived  of  sight  by  one  of  his  kinsmen,  and  soon  after  to  aid 
his  sons  Nial  O'Donnel  in  1427  invaded  Tyrone.  Two  years  later 
O'Rourkes  and  O'Reillys  being  at  feud  the  latter  called  upon  his 
chief  O'Neil  to  assist  him  and  O'Rourke  was  defeated.  In  1430 
Owen  the  tanist  in  one  of  his  raids  burnt  Dundalk,  exacting  tribute 
from  the  English,  and  thence  proceeded  into  Annaly  and  through 
Meath;  Calvagh  O'Connor  of  Offaly,  O'Molloy,  O'Madden,  Ma- 
geoghan,  McLaghlin  accepted  stipends  from  him  as  acknowledg- 
ment of  fealty ;  and  Nugents,  Herberts,  Plunkets  and  other  English 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIX.  181 

colonists  [)aid  him  what  he  deinaiuled.  The  next  year  with  Maguires 
and  O'Reillys  he  spoiled  the  Macl^uillins,  and  in  1432  Donnell  the 
Soft  being  slain  by  the  O'Kanes,  he  was  inaugurated  chief  of 
Tyrone. 

That  same  year  he  visited  O'Connor  Sligo  in  Connaught,  and 
Xial  O'Donuel  jealous  of  this  proposed  conference  with  his  neigh- 
bor and  liege,  interposed  to  prevent  their  meeting,  which  led  to  re- 
sentment and  hostilities  between  them.  Owen  invaded  Tyrconnel 
with  Maguire  and  Clanai]((5y,  but  after  his  army  had  confronted  for 
some  time  that  of  O'Donnel  without  coming  to  blows,  excepting  in 
slight  skirmishes,  he  withdrew.  The  next  year  MacDonnell  of  the 
isles,  taking  sides  with  O'Neil,  first  assailed  and  subdued  the  Savages 
of  Antrim  and  then  sailed  to  Inishowen  whither  O'Neil  proceeded  by 
land.  The  wife  and  sons  of  O'Donnel  Avithout  his  permission  sub- 
mitted. O'Donnel  making  terms  with  the  Enolish  and  marchino:  with 
considerable  force  through  Meath,  by  Athlone,  Hy-Many  and  Moy- 
lurg,  O'Xeil  and  Maguire  came  to  meet  him  and  "  a  charitable  peace  " 
was  brought  about. 

Naghtan  being  implicated  in  the  taking  off  of  Owen  one  of  the 
subordinate  chiefs  of  the  O'Donnells,  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  be- 
sieged his  stronghold  Castlefinn.  It  proved  too  strong  for  them,  and 
unable  to  reduce  it  they  proceeded  into  Meath  to  collect  tribute  of 
Dundalk.  Whilst  Henry  and  Hugh  sons  of  O'Neil  were  engaged  in 
destroying  Nubber,  the  deputy  dropped  down  upon  them  but  they 
effected  their  retreat.  The  chief  of  Tyrconnel  was  less  fortvmate. 
Whilst  similarly  engaged  a  force  of  English  cavalry  surrounded  him. 
His  son  and  heir  Turlogh  fell  in  the  fight  and  Nial  himself  was  taken 
prisoner.  Delivered  up  to  Sir  Thomas  Stanley  then  deputy,  in 
1435,  he  was  sent  over  to  London  and  died  four  years  later  at  the 
Isle  of  Man  whither  he  had  been  sent  to  be  released.  He  is  hiohly 
extolled  by  the  chroniclers. 

O'Neil  showed  little  sympathy  for  the  misfortunes   of  his  brother 


182  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

chieftain.  Soon  after  his  capture  he  proceeded  through  Fermanagh 
into  Tyrconnel  upon  a  predatory  expedition  The  O'Donnels,  Brian 
and  Naghtan  collected  their  forces,  attacked  him  in  his  camp  among 
the  wdd  mountain  tracts  of  Donegal,  called  the  Rosses,  and  drove 
him  out  of  his  entrenchments  of  which  they  took  possession.  Henry 
son  of  O'Neil  mortified  at  this  disaster  exhorted  his  warriors  to  re- 
trieve it,  and  selecting  their  time  they  broke  in  upon  their  enemies  at 
night.  The  description  in  the  annals  of  this  nocturnal  combat  re- 
calls the  stir  and  lurid  glow  of  Ossian.  Tiie  closeness  of  the  com- 
batants, sparks  of  fire  that  flash  from  the  helmets  of  the  heroes  and 
armor  of  the  champions,  the  personal  encounter  of  Hugh  and  his 
kinsman  Brian  cause  regret  that  such  flights  of  fancy  so  rarely  lend 
animation  to  their  recital.  Victory  declared  for  the  O'Neils,  and  the 
O'Donnels  disappeared  into  the  darkness.  If  not  very  chivalric  to 
invade  Tyrconnel  whilst  its  chief  was  absent  and  a  captive,  Owen 
punished  severely  by  maiming  one  of  the  O'Donnels  who  entrusted 
by  Naghtan  with  the  keeping  of  the  castle  of  Ballyshannon  proposed 
to  surrender  it  to  himself.  Later  in  the  summer  when  Brian  son  of 
Henry  O'Neil  invaded  Tirhugh  on  a  predatory  incursion,  the  house- 
hold of  Nial  the  captive  chief  overtook  and  slew  a  great  number  of 
his  followers. 

NaMitan  succeeded  to  the  chieftainship  upon  the  death  of  his 
brother  and  continued  lord  of  Tyrconnel  till  slain  in  1452  by  the  sons 
of  Nial.  His  son  Roderick  disputed  the  succession  with  Donnel,  son 
of  his  brother  Nial  Garve,  who  was  imprisoned  by  O'Doherty  at  Inis. 
Rory  with  the  O'Kanes  and  MacQuillins  endeavored  to  destroy 
Inis  and  had  burnt  down  the  gate  and  set  on  fire  the  stairs,  NVhen 
Donnel  praying  to  be  released  from  his  fetters,  ascended  the  battle- 
ments, and  seeing  Rory  beneath  cast  down  upon  him  a  large  stone 
which  crushed  him.  Donnel  was  thereupon  acknowledged  chieftain. 
Henry  then  lately  inaugurated  lord  of  Tyrone,  espousing  the  cause 
of  Turlogh,    son   of  Naghtan,    in    145G   waylaid  Donnel  and  slew 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN,  183 

him,  and  two  years  after  joined  Turlogh  in  a  liostint;-  into  Brefny. 
In  146.0  he  released  Hugh,  son  of  Xial,  who  the  next  year  with  his 
brothers  Con  and  ()wen  and  the  MacSweenys,  defeated  Turh)gli  at 
Kinnaweer  in  Donegal,  cutting  off  his  hand  and  foot  to  disqualify 
him  for  the  chieftainship.  Inaugurated  at  Ivilmaerenan  Hugh 
reigned  forty-four  years.  He  proposed  in  1497  to  resign  in  favor 
of  his  son  Hugh,  who  would  not  consent.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
seventv-eiu'ht  in  1505,  and  his  widow  Finola  daughter  of  Conor  na 
Srona  O'Brien  in  1528. 

Owen  O'Xeil  with  his  son  Henry  in  1442  with  the  English  to  aid 
them  attacked  Castlefin,  the  stronghold  of  Xagiitan  O'Donnel,  who 
outnumbered  made  peace,  giving  up  Kinelmoen  and  the  tribute  of 
the  O'Dohertys  in  Inishowen.  Two  years  later  Owen  was  discom- 
fited by  Clanaboy  in  Duflerin,  but  an  expedition  against  the  English 
of  Oriel  was  attended  with  better  success,  sixty  marks  and  two  tuns 
of  wine  being  the  ransom  of  unhappy  Dundalk.  In  1452  the  En- 
glish and  MacMahon  combined  against  him  and  he  was  worsted  in 
the  Fews,  but  Mac]\Ialion  submitting  made  peace  paying  an 
eric  for  Sorley  ]Mor  ^NIcDonnel  who  was  slain.  As  age  overtook 
him  Owen  became  less  reasonable,  and  the  year  before  his  death  in 
1455,  he  was  deposed  by  his  son  Henry,  who  but  for  this  act  of  filial 
impiety  would  have  left  a  brilliant  record,  having  been  already  for 
twenty -five  years  the  hero  of  Tyrone.  His  first  hosting  as  chief  was 
against  O'Donnel,  who  in  1458  joined  him  in  an  expedition  into  Con- 
naught,  and  the  next  year  he  attacked  Omagh  the  castle  of  the  sons  of 
Art  O'Xeil.  In  14G2  Edward  IV.  sent  him  a  chain  of  gold  and 
forty-eight  yards  of  scarlet  cloth  as  a  peace  offering.  He  subdued 
the  O'Kanes,  defeated  and  banished  the  Savages,  constituting- 
Patrick  White  lord  of  Lecale.  In  1470  he  conquered  the  Mac- 
Quillins,  the  next  year  took  the  castle  of  Omngh,  and  in  1482 
ransoming  his  son  Con  from  the  O'Donncls  transferred  to  him  his 
chieftainry.  He  died  in  1489  after  a  prosperous  career,  havin'T  been 
as  chief  or  prominent  leader  a  power  in  Tyrone  for  sixty  years. 


184  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

John  O'Reilly,  "most  noble  of  his  name,"  died  at  Cavanin  1400 ; 
Maelmora  in  1411.  John,  son  of  Owen,  was  slain  in  1460  by 
the  English,  Cathal  taking  his  place.  Richard  who  succeeded 
as  tanist  died  in  1469,  and  Turlogh,  grandson  of  Owen,  in 
1487,  his  son  John  succeeding.  Occasional  contention  arose 
between  different  branches  of  the  family,  but  the  regular  order  of 
succession  was  little  disturbed.  In  Oriel,  Ardgal  died  in  1416, 
and  his  son  Brian  in  1442.  Hugh,  son  of  Rory,  "affable  and 
pious,  well  skilled  in  every  art,  distinguished  for  his  valor  and  noble 
deeds,"  died  in  1453  at  his  castle  of  Lurgan  ;  and  Felim,  son  of 
Brian,  elected  to  succeed  him,  ruled  over  the  Oriels  to  his  death  in 
1466.  During  the  next  century  Monaghan  was  parcelled  out  be- 
tween four  different  branches  of  the  MacMahons.  The  long  reigns  of 
these  chieftains^  as  the  case  with  so  many  more  over  the  island, 
speak  favorably  for  the  stability  and  wisdom  of  their  institutions. 

Calvagh  O'Connor,  of  whom  the  adventure  of  the  cauldron  has 
been  related,  chieftain  of  all  Offaly,  "  who  had  won  more  wealth 
from  both  races  than  any  lord  in  Leinster,"  succeeded  his  father  in 
1421.  His  wife  Margaret  was  daughter  of  Teigue  O'Carrol  of  Ely, 
slain  by  the  English  in  1407,  whose  pilgrimage  to  Rome  has 
been  noted  and  whose  fame  as  the  patron  of  learned  men  was 
sufficiently  conspicuous  to  be  mentioned  by  the  annalists.  Margaret 
derived  from  her  father  similar  tastes  for  literature  and  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  its  professors,  which  were  also  shared  by  her  noble 
husband. 

In  1433,  the  year  of  famine,  known  as  "the  season  of  slight 
acquaintance,"  in  the  spring  season  and  again  at  the  time  of  harvest 
she  entertained  all  persons  "  of  science  and  literature,  in  poetry,  music 
and  antiquities"  from  every  part  of  the  country  at  Killachy.  Mac 
Egan,  chief  judge  to  her  husband,  made  out  the  roll  of  the  guests 
to  be  invited,  twenty-seven  hundred  in  number.  She  received  them 
clad  in  cloth  of  gold,  surrounded  by  her  clergy  and  judges  in  the 


I 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  185 

church  of  De  Senchal,  the  patron  saint  of  Offaly,  her  husband 
outside  mounted  on  his  cliarger  bidding  them  welcome.  The  enter- 
tainment began  by  her  oifcring  on  the  altar  of  the  church  two 
golden  chalices  to  God,  and  by  taking  upon  herself  the  charge  of 
two  young  orphans  to  support  and  educate.  She  then  bestowed 
sums  of  money  or  other  suitable  gifts  upon  each  of  her  guests,  who 
after  receiving  them  proceeded  to  the  banquet.  It  is  added  "  that 
never  was  seen  or  heard  the  like  of  that  day  nor  comparable  to  its 
glory  and  solace."  It  will  be  remembered  however  that  a  century 
earlier  WilHam  O'Kelly  the  admirable  chief  of  Ily-Many  held 
high  festival  for  scholars  and  the  poor,  and  in  that  which  followed, 
Hugh  O'Neil  rebuilt  for  similar  purposes  the  palace  of  Emania. 
Margaret  was  also  famous  "for  repairing  highways,  erecting  bridges 
and  churches,  for  the  making  of  mass-books,  and  doing  all  manner 
of  things  profitable  to  serve  God  and  her  own  soul," — so  that  the 
annalists  add  that  not  only  these  but  while  the  world  stands  her 
very  many  gifts  to  the  Irish  and  Scottish  nations  shall  never  be  for- 
gotten. In  1451  cancer  in  the  breast  brought  her  life  to  a  close, 
her  son  Felim  dying  the  night  before  his  mother. 

Her  daughter  Finola,  wife  of  Nial  O'Donnel,  who  made  for  her 
husband  the  peace  with  the  O'Xeils,  and  who  after  his  death  married 
Hugh  Boy,  son  of  Brian .0 'Neil,  "  the  most  beautiful  and  stately,  the 
most  renowned  and  illustrious  of  her  time  in  all  Ireland,  her  own 
mother  only  excepted,"  when  again  a  widow  retired  into  the  convent 
of  Killeigh,  and  there  died  in  1493,  nearly  half  a  century  later.  Her 
father  Calvagh,  the  great  king  of  Offiily,  prosperous  in  war  and 
munificent  in  bounty,  having  designated  his  son  Con  to  supply  his 
place,  in  1458,  went  to  his  fathers  and  was  buried  within  the  sacred 
enclosure  which  Finola  had  selected  for  her  retreat. 

During  all  this  reign  in  Leinster  comparative  tranquillity  prevailed, 

for  the  reason    that  the   septs  were    little   disturbed.      Soon    after 

Donogh  MacMorrogh  son  of  king  Art  was  redeemed  from  his  nine 
24 


186  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

years  captivity  in  London,  he  led  in  1431  an  army  to  the  walls  of 
Dublin,  where  after  success  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  engagement  he 
was  at  last  defeated.  Two  years  later  he  routed  the  English .  When  his 
son  Murtogh  was  slain  in  1442  in  Wexford,  the  chief  compelled  the 
English  to  pay  him  an  eric  of  eight  hundred  marks.  His  tribute  from 
the  English  treasury  depending  upon  his  peaceable  demeanor — per- 
haps explains  why  so  few  incidents  are  related  which  concern  at  this 
period  this  part  of  the  island.  In  1456  Mageoghans  discomfited  a 
party  of  English  fish  merchants,  scattering  their  fish,  but  in  a  battle 
not  long  after  Farrell  Roe  chief  of  the  sept  was  slain,  and  the  next 
year  a  victory  was  gained  at  Ardglass  by  the  English  overClanaboy. 
Immediately  after  the  death  of  his  father  Calvagh,  Con  of  Offaly 
sustained  a  defeat  from  Kildare,  which  in  the  following  campaign  he 
paid  back  on  the  baron  of  Galtrim.  With  the  Butlers  he  ravaged 
Meath  ;  and  the  MacMahons  and  O'Neils  levied  tribute  on  many  of' 
the  English  proprietors,  who  were  driven  from  their  abodes,  their 
lands  being  re-occupied  by  the  septs. 

Munster  remained  comparatively  tranquil.  In  Thomond  in  1426 
after  Conor's  decease  his  nephew  Teigue  O'Brien  succeeding  was  de- 
posed by  Clanrickard  in  favor  of  his  son-in-law  Torlogh  the  Soft,  who 
by  his  aid  retained  the  throne  till  his  death  in  1459,  when  Mahon's  son 
Donogh  ruled  for  a  year  and  then  gave  place  to  Teigue  son  of  Tor- 
logh. Contentions  occasionally  occurred  between  McCarthies  and 
O'Sullivans,  but  the  septs  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  their  way,  with 
none  to  molest  unless  for  a  brief  period  the  earl  of  Desmond, 
Donal  McCarthy  Mor  born  in  1373,  and  his  son  Teigue  in  1407  and 
slain  in  1490,  ruled  over  Desmond.  In  Muskerry  Teigue  born  in 
1380  reigned  twenty  years  to  1448,  and  his  son  Cormac,  who  built 
Blarney  and  the  abbey  of  Kilcrea  in  the  middle  of  the  century  died 
in  1494.  The  contemporary  lords  of  Carbery  were  Donal  Glas  who 
lived  to  a  great  age,  Donal  Reagh,  and  Dermod  an  Duna  who  suc- 
ceeded in  1452.     The  O'Sullivans  Mor  lords  of  Dunkerron  were 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  187 

Roderick  and  Doual ;   of  Beare,  Dcrmod   Balbh,  who  foimded  the 
monastery  at  Bantry,  and  his  son  Donal  wlio  died  in  1485. 

To  other  chieftains  besides  those  already  alluded  to  tributes  of 
respect  are  paid  by  the  annalists  as  they  ended  their  da'^'s.  Mention 
is  made  among  others  of  Tomaltagh  MacDermot  patron  of  the  learn- 
ed and  bountiful  lord  of  Moyiurg  ;  O'Boyle  who  died  in  1458  ; 
Hugh  ]Maguire  on  his  return  after  pilgrimage  to  Campostella  at 
Ivinsale  the  night  of  his  return  ;  O'Dowd,  lord  of  Ily-Fiachra  in 
Connaught,  who  had  restored  to  their  lawful  proprietors  in  his  terri- 
toiy,  their  hereditary  possessions  both  lay  and  ecclesiastical ;  Conor 
]MacDonogli,  lord  of  Tireril,  another  patron  of  learned  men  ;  Der- 
raod  king  of  the  O'Tooles,  best  horseman  in  his  province,  taking  a 
prey  at  the  age  of  eighty  ;  Brian  O'Conor  of  Connaught,  star  of 
the  bravery  of  the  Irish  after  reigning  thirty-seven  years  ;  William 
O'Farrell  of  Analy  after  a  long  and  virtuous  life ;  Edmund  Burke 
in  1458,  the  only  Englishman  in  Ireland  worthy  to  be  chosen  chief 
for  his  personal  comeliness,  generous  hospitality,  constancy  and  truth, 
gentility  of  blood,  martial  feats  and  all  qualities  which  merit  praise ; 
Felim  O'Xeil,  son  of  Nial  Oge,  who  had  purchased  a  larger  collec- 
tion of  poems  than  any  man  of  his  time  ;  and  lastly  of  Hugh  son  of 
Torlogh  Oge  O'Conor,  half  king  of  Connaught  and  well  worthy  of 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  for  his  personal  shape  and  comeliness,  his 
valor,  warfare,  hospitality  to  learned  men  and  all  who  stood  in  need 
of  it.  He  died  in  May,  14G1,  at  Balintober  in  Roscommon  in  the 
sixty-third  year  of  his  age.  Ollavs,  brehons,  poets  and  historians 
are  also  noted  as  ending  their  labors,  but  the  same  names  are  still 
found  attached  to  them,  and  they  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  differ- 
ent chiefs  as  in  previous  generations. 

Under  Henry  VI.  there  were  few  changes  in  the  three  English 
earldoms.  James  seventh  Desmond  who  deposed  his  nephew  in 
1418  survived  the  king,  and  his  son-in-law  Thomas  seventh  Kildare 
who  succeeded  his  father  in  1429  possessed  that  earldom  fifty  years. 


l; 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


James  fourth  Ormoiid  held  the  title  nearly  as  long,  having  succeeded 
in  1405.  His  son  James  an  ardent  Lancastrian  and  able  officer  by 
sea  and  land,  and  who  had  done  good  service  in  France,  was  de- 
capitated after  Towton  in  1461.  All  these  personages  for  a  time 
held  the  office  of  lord-lieutenant  or  deputy.  The  other  son-in-law 
of  Desmond  and  who  acknowledged  fealty  to  him,  Thomas  eighth 
lord  Kerry  in  1410  succeeded  his  father  and  died  in  1469. 

The  civil  war  in  England  was  a  blessed  boon  to  the  sister  kingdom. 
While  it  lasted  it  engaged  the  support  of  the  English  lords  of  Ireland 
on  either  side,  Butlers  for  Lancaster,  Geraldines  for  York.  Reliev- 
ed for  a  time  from  the  heavy  hand  of  oppression ,  chief  and  sept 
enjoyed  a  brief  respite  of  repose  to  recover  their  strength  and  to  use 
it.  Instead  of  adding  to  their  acquisitions  the  English  gradually 
lost  what  they  had  gained.  Berminghams  slightly  increased  their  ter- 
ritory inConnaught,  Desmond  purchased  half  of  Cork  from  De  Cogan, 
Clennish  and  Kilsellan  from  Grandison,  in  Tipperary.  Onnond 
over-ran  and  for  a  time  subjected  the  Barrets.  Kildare  received 
by  marriage  and  by  grant  other  portions  of  the  inheritance  of  Sybil 
Marshall,  one  of  the  five  co-heiresses  of  Leinster.  But  they  were 
titles  rather  than  possessions.  Many  of  the  other  proprietors,  sixty- 
three  are  enumerated  in  1461,  never  visited  their  estates,  but  ex- 
tracted from  them  what  they  could  which  was  not  much . 

The  year  after  his  father  fell  at  Wakefield,  Edward  of  York  en- 
tered London  and  was  proclaimed  king  in  1461.  His  victories  over 
sixty  thousand  Lancastrians  at  Mortimers  Cross  and  Towton,  in 
which  last  engagement  nearly  forty  thousand  were  slain,  established 
his  throne.  The  deposed  Henry  was  sent  to  the  tower  there  to  re- 
main till  Warwick  after  ten  years  replaced  the  crown  upon  his  head 
for  a  brief  period.  Barnet  and  Tewkesbury  Avon  by  Edward  sent 
him  back  to  his  dungeon,  and  in  all  probability  to  a  bloody  death. 
The  war  in  which  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  fell  brought  to  a 
close  the  hopes  and  almost  the  existence  of  the  house  of  Lancaster, 
go  many  perished  by  axe  or  dagger,  on  the  block  or  battle-field. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN,  189 

During  this  period  of  comparative  inmuuiity  from  foreign  domi- 
nation, religious  houses  multiplied  over  the  land.  Kecord  of  their 
institution  being  kept  in  the  apostolic  chamber,  their  date  and  the 
name  of  their  founders  can  be  ascertained.  More  than  two  hundred 
are  to  be  credited  to  the  era  of  the  Plantagenets,  twenty  to  this  reign 
of  Henry  the  sixth.  English  proprietors  did  their  part,  but  very 
many  of  the  Irish  chieftains  are  mentioned  as  founding  one  or  more 
such  establishments.  The  number  of  these  chieftains  and  members 
of  their  families  mentioned  as  retiring  into  the  cloister,  as  life  drew 
to  its  close,  as  well  as  the  tribute  paid  by  their  historians  when  it  was 
over  to  their  piety,  penitence  and  other  christian  graces,  testifies  to 
the  ascendancy  of  the  religious  sentiment  over  their  minds. 

Askeaton  was  erected  by  Desmond,  Dunmore  and  Kaltraghby  the 
Berminghams,  Kilcarbain  by  the  Burkes,  Holyvvood  by  the  Audleys, 
Kilmichail  by  the  Pettits.*  O'Donnel  founded  Kilmacrenan  and 
Magheri-Beg  ;  Con  O'Neil,  Dungannon  ;  MacSweenys,  Ballymac- 
sweenyandRathmullian  ;  Dowells,  Tulksin  Roscommon  ;  O'Malleys, 
Morrisk ;  Gerald  Cavanagh,  Enniscorthy  in  Wexford ;  Florence 
O'Driscoll,  Inishircan  near  Baltimore ;  O'Donoghoe,  JNIoyen  in 
Mayo  ;  O'Sullivan  Beare,  Bantry  ;  and  Donogh  McCarthy,  Irrelagh 
or  Mucruss  Abbey  on  the  borders  of  lake  Lene  or  Killarney,  the  re- 
mains of  which  in  good  preservation  attract  the  attention  of  visitors 
to  that  region.  Cormac  of  ]\IuskeiTy  erected  the  abbey  of  Kilcrea 
nunnery  of  Ballyvacardane  besides  five  churches.  The  O'More  in 
1447  founded  Abbyleix  of  which  no  vestige  remains,  and  in  1464 
Adare  was  erected  by  Kildare.  To  many  churches  now  in  use  were 
attached  conventual  establishments  that  date  from  this  period. 

Pestilence  in  the  form  of  the  black  death  which  in  1348  swept 
from  the  earth  twenty  five  millions  of  human  beings  proved  more 
fatal  in  Ireland  in  the  towns  than  in  the  country,  fourteen  thousand 
dying  in  Dublin  alone.  It  spared  neitlierrace  nor  condition  and  re- 
appeared four  times  in  that  century.     In  the  fifteenth,  few  years  passed 


190  TR-ANSFER      OF     EKIN. 

without  numerous  victims  to  what  is  called  the  plaoue.  It  raced 
with  especial  violence  in  1439,  three  thousand  perishing  within  two 
months  in  the  capital,  and  in  1447  seven  hundred  priests,  who  did 
not  spare  themselves  in  taking  care  of  the  sick. 


XXIV. 

EEiaN   OF   EDWARD   IV. — 1461—1483. 

By  the  established  rules  of  succession  no  one  had  better  claim  than 
Edward  to  the  throne.  Through  him  vested  in  the  crown  the  in- 
heritance derived  to  his  father  from  Anne  de  Mortimer,  Ulster, 
Connaught  and  portions  of  Leinster  arfd  Meath.  To  the  greater 
part  of  this  vast  domain  no  valid  title  subsisted,  since  by  English 
law  whatever  his  ancestors  had  acquired  by  grant  or  prescription  had 
been  divested  long  before  by  disseizin  and  returned  either  to  the 
septs  from  whom  it  had  been  originally  wrested,  or  passed  to  the 
Burkes  who  had  been  beyond  legal  memory  in  possession  of  the 
Connaught  lands,  though  not  one  very  peaceable. 

Thomas  seventh  earl  of  Kildare  after  the  death  of  Richard  of 
York  at  Wakefield  chosen  governor  by  the  council  was  confirmed  in 
that  office  by  the  king.  From  no  want  of  aifection  or  confidence, 
since  Kildare  had  ever  been  steadfast  in  his  devotion  to  himself  and  his 
house,  but  from  motives  of  policy  in  the  hope  of  inspiring  a  more 
loyal  feeling  among  the  Anglo  and  Irish  nobles  to  the  throne, 
George  duke  of  Clarence  his  brother  was  commissioned  as  lord  lieu- 
tenant for  seven  years.  Fitzeustace  appointed  his  deputy  yielded  the 
office  that  same  year  to  Sherwood  bishop  of  Meath. 

Acts  were  passed  in  parliament  confirming  the  attainder  of  the 
late  earl  of   Ormond  beheaded  at  Newcastle,  and    subjecting  his 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN.  191 

brothers  John  and  Thomas  and  other  prominent  Lancastrians  to  the 
Hke  forfeitures.  John  next  in  succession  to  the  title  took  refuge 
■with  several  of  his  friends  and  adiiercnts  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
family  domains,  and  raising  his  standard  as  earl  of  Ormond  collected 
a  considerable  army.  Thomas  the  eighth  earl  of  Desmond  who  had 
that  very  year  succeeded  his  father  marched  against  them  with  twenty 
thousand  men  but  with  little  result,  his  brother  Gerald  being  taken 
prisoner.  The  Butlers  swept  havock  through  Leinster  and  occupied 
Waterford,  but  at  Pillstown  near  Carrick  on  Suir  in  Kilkenny  sus- 
tained a  disastrous  defeat,  having  come  to  an  engagement  on  a 
Monday,  considered  an  unlucky  day  for  the  purpose,  contrary  to  the 
advice  of  Ormond.  Many  were  slain  and  their  leader  MacRichard 
Butler,  "the  most  famous  English  chieftain  in  Ireland,"  was  cap- 
tured. His  ransom,  strange  to  relate,  consisted  of  two  mnnuscript 
volumes  ;  a  portion  of  the  celebrated  psalter  of  Cashel,  a  collection 
of  histories,  poems  and  tales  transcribed  for  him  by  O'Clery,  Avhich 
copy  with  this  incident  connected  with  its  history  entered  on  one  of 
its  leaves  is  now  in  the  Bodleian  library  at  Oxford  ;  the  other  was 
the  book  of  Carrick  of  a  like  nature  which  he  had  also  had  copied. 

Ormond  after  his  defeat  withdrew  into  the  mountains  awaiting  re- 
enforcements,  which  reached  him  shortly  under  command  of  his 
brother,  who  had  captured  on  his  way  four  vessels  of  Desmond's. 
Peace  was  made  and  the  Butlers  discouraged  for  a  time  remained  at 
rest.  Desmond  was  appointed  deputy  to  Clarence.  He  was  nearly 
foi'ty  years  of  age,  described  in  the  annals  as  "  valiant  and  successful 
in  war,  comely  in  person,  versed  in  Latin,  English  and  Gaelic  lore, 
affable,  eloquent,  hospitable,  humane  to  the  needy,  a  suppressor  of 
vice  and  theft,  surpassingly  bountiful  in  bestowing  jewels  and  wealth 
on  clerics  and  laymen,  but  especially  munificent  to  the  antiquaries, 
poets  and  men  of  song  of  the  Irish  race.  He  founded  a  college 
church  at  Youghal,  and  at  his  suggestion  parliament  passed  an  act 
to  establish  a  university  on  the  plan  of  Oxford  at  Drogheda,  which 


192  TRANSFER     OF     ERIX. 

for  want  of  endowments  never  grew  up.  He  was  ostentatious  and 
liked  to  be  surrounded  by  Irish  chieftains  who  attended  his  court 
and  were  attached  to  him  for  his  personal  qualities,  hereditary  gos- 
sipred,  fosterage  or  similar  ties.  His  wife  was  Elisabeth  Barry 
daughter  of  the  viscount  Buttevant,  and  her  sister  had  married  Gor- 
mac  Ladir  McCarthy.  The  mother  of  Desmond  was  a  Burke  of 
Clanrickard,  and  that  chief  helped  him  to  subdue  five  thousand 
of  the  English  of  Meath  who  were  disaffected,  and  an  assessment  of 
one  hundred  marks  being  laid  upon  them  to  pay  O'Connor  of  OfFaly 
for  his  prisoners.  The  Butlers  became  from  time  to  time  less  quiet, 
and  for  seventeen  days  he  wasted  their  territory.  He  twice  invaded 
the  O'Byrnes  inflicting  the  usual  amount  of  mischief  and  doing  his 
part  to  encourage  that  habit  of  destruction  in  the  conflagration  of 
villages  and  houses  which  perhaps  more  than  anything  else  tended 
to  barbarize  the  habits  of  life  at  that  period. 

Similar  rivalries  to  what  had  alienated  Ormond  and  archbishop 
Talbot  in  the  previous  reign,  and  led  in  the  following  century  to  the 
taking  off  of  archbishop  Allen  by  the  Fitzgeralds  of  Kildare,  stirred 
up  strife  between  Desmond  and  the  bishop  of  Meath,  whose  followers 
had  slain  in  Fingal  nine  of  the  viceroys.  Parliament  sided  with 
Desmond,  enumerating  in  an  address  the  services  he  had  rendered  to 
the  king  at  the  jeopardy  of  his  life  and  lands,  and  his  many 
other  claims  to  royal  confidence.  After  hearing  both  parties  summon- 
ed to  his  presence,  Edward  sent  back  the  viceroy  to  his  post  with 
o'ifts  and  assurance  of  continued  favor.  Parliaments  at  Wexford 
and  Trim  relaxed  the  laws  prohibiting  trade  with  the  Irish,  but 
made  it  lawful  "  to  capture  and  kill  thieves,  robbing  liege  people  by 
day  or  night,  having  no  faithful  Englishman  of  good  name  or  fame 
in  their  company  in  English  apparel,"  it  appearing  from  this  no 
offence  in  their  eyes  to  rob  in  good  company.  The  heads  of  the 
captured  were  to  be  cut  off"  and  set  upon  stakes,  a  practice  which  the 
Irish  would  seem  to  have  borrowed  irom  this  source  in  the  like  in- 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN.  193 

Stances  related  of  the  Maguires  and  MacMahons.  It  was  furtlier 
ordered  that  Irishmen  dwelling  in  the  four  counties  should  adopt  the 
English  garb,  shave  the  upper  lip,  and  take  a  surname  from  some 
town,  color,  art  or  office.  Every  Englishman  and  friendly  Irish- 
man speaking  English  was  to  keep  a  bow  of  yew,  hazel,  ash,  auburn 
or  other  reasonable  tree,  with  twelve  shafts  and  shoot  thrice  before 
their  constables,  on  each  festal  day.  Foreign  fishermen  were  for- 
bidden without  license  from  the  governor  in  Irish  waters,  an  order 
not  easily  enforced,  for  the  chiefs  derived  considerable  revenue  from 
the  permission  which  they  gave  strangers  to  fish  along  their  shores. 
Court  fees  were  regulated  and  penalties  imposed  for  clipping  money, 
but  in  .this  the  government  set  but  a  poor  example  as  they  debased 
the  coin  to  half  standard  and  fixed  prices  at  half  value. 

The  period  was  approaching  Avhen  gold  and  silver  from  abrasion 
and  use  in  the  arts  were  to  reach  their  lowest  point  in  quantity,  esti- 
mated at  little  more  than  fifty  millions  sterling  in  Europe,  before 
additional  supplies  from  America  changed  the  standards.  The  process 
was  slow  and  there  was  but  little  perceptible  change  in  prices  till  a 
century  later.  But  as  parliament  endeavored  to  control  them  by 
this  act,  Avhat  they  attached  to  the  principal  commodities  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  note.  A  peck  of  wheat  was  placed  at  sixteen  pence, 
barley  at  eight  and  oats  at  four  ;  an  ox  was  valued  ten  shillings,  a 
cow  at  six  and  eight  pence,  sheep  eight  pence,  a  good  hog  at  three 
and  four  pence  ;  a  couple  of  capons  four  pence  ;  a  pair  of  shoes  four 
pence  ;  a  gallon  of  the  best  ale  three  half  pence  ;  wine  of  Rochelle 
six  pence,  of  Gascony  eight  and  Spanish  ten,  a  barrel  of  herrings 
six  and  eight  pence.  Trade  generally  was  by  barter  and  cows  the 
most  common  equivalent,  for  Ireland  from  the  moisture  of  its  climate 
and  luxuriant  pastures  ever  abounded  and  excelled  in  cattle. 

Some  of  the  Melaghlins  seized  by  the  Pettits  whilst  on  a  visit  to 
^luUingar  were  rescued  by  O'Connor.     This  led  to  commotion  in 
Meath.     Desmond  in  1466  wit^  a  large  force  was  defeated,  and  with 
25  '  '  . 


194  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Plunket  and  many  other  personages  of  consequence  was  captured 
by  Con  of  Oftaly,  whose  brother  after  entertaining  them  kindly, 
from  some  obligation  he  was  under  to  the  earl,  set  them  free  without 
ransom.  Teigue  O'Brien  crossed  the  Shannon  with  a  great  army 
spoiling  West  ^lunster.  After  making  influence  Avith  the  Leinster 
chiefs  to  help  his  inauguration  at  Tara  as  successor  of  Brian  Boru, 
he  obtained  from  Desmond  a  surrender  of  the  county  of  Limerick 
and  Clan  William,  subjecting  the  city  of  Limerick  to  a  perpetual 
tribute  of  sixty  marks.  He  went  home  and  died,  not  without  sus- 
picion of  being  made  away  with.  Hugh  O'Niel  son  of  Owen  gained 
a  great  victory  in  Orgial  over  the  English,  who  later  in  the  year 
defeated  the  MacMahons  taking  Art  prisoner.  The  septs  wasted  the 
country  up  to  the  gates  of  Dublin,  and  the  colonists  lived  in  constant 
consternation. 

"Warwick  not  content  with  placing  Edward  on  the  throne,  selected 
for  him  a  wife  suitable  to  his  station  in  Bona  of  Savoy,  sister  of  the 
queen  of  France.  He  himself  negotiated  the  match.  Unfortu- 
nately the  royal  eye  had  rested  with  favor  on  Elizabeth  Woodville, 
widow  of  Sir  John  Gray,  who  became  queen.  The  kingmaker  dis- 
gusted left  the  court,  and  his  discontent  led  a  few  years, afterwards  to 
the  restoration  for  a  few  months  in  1470  of  the  dethroned  Henry. 
Desmond  when  in  Enoland  and  eng^aoed  in  confidential  chat  with 
the  king  had  been  questioned  by  him  as  to  what  the  people  thought 
of  this  marriage.  He  replied  that  he  had  lost  by  it  the  favor  of  his 
subjects,  but  that  it  was  not  too  late  to  retrieve  his  mistake  by  repu- 
diating Elizabeth,  and  marrying  some  daughter  of  a  royal  house. 
This  view  was  the  more  uatiu'al  to  him  that  his  own  father  had  been 
indebted  for  his  elevation  to  the  earldom  to  the  dissatisfaction  created 
among  the  Fitzgeralds  by  the  sixth  earl  marrying  one  of  inferior 
rank.  What  seems  quite  improbable,  it  is  also  related  that  he  spoke 
of"  the  queen  to  her  husband  a^  a  tailor's  widow. 

Curtain  lectures  occasionally  distu^'b  the  slumbers  of  majesty,  and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  195 

it  was  whispered  that  the  king  in  some  moment  of  conjugal  temper 
expressed  regret  he  had  not  taken  the  advice  of  Desmond.  The 
infuriated  queen  did  not  rest  till  she  found  occasion  to  wre^k  her  re- 
sentment. On  the  pretext  that  Desmond  was  the  favorite  of  Clarence 
whom  the  king  suspected  of  disaffection,  she  contrived  to  have 
him  removed  from  the  office  of  deputy,  and  Tibetot  earl  of  Worces- 
ter sent  over  in  his  stead.  The  new  governor  had  claims  grow- 
ing out  of  the  marriage  of  his  father  with  an  heiress  of  Talbot  to 
Dungarvan,  which  given  to  the  earl  of  Shrewsbury  had  been  restored 
to  Desmond.  With  Sherwood  and  the  queen  to  aid  him  he  proceed- 
ed without  hesitation  not  only  against  Desmond  himself  but  against 
Kildare  his  brother-in-law  and  Edward  Plunket,  arraicminfj  them  be- 
fore  the  parliament  at  Drogheda,  for  alliances,  fostering  and  alter- 
age  with  the  king's  enemies,  and  furnishing  them  with  horses,  harness, 
and  arms. 

Desmond  .never  suspecting  the  fell  purpose  of  his  adversaries 
and  responding  in  person  to  these  accusations,  was  arrested  and 
decapitated  on  the  loth  of  February,  1468,  the  queen  attaching, 
surreptitiously  it  is  said,  the  royal  seal  to  the  warrant.  The  remains 
of  "  the  great  earl  '*  were  carried  across  the  country  to  Tralee  for  in- 
terment, and  his  death  was  greatly  mourned  by  the  people.  Even 
Richard  III.  wrote  in  1485  that  "  the  earl  had  been  murdered  by  color 
of  law  against  all  manhood,  reason  and  conscience."  Three  of  Des- 
mond's sons  were  earls  after  him,  and  Gerald,  who  in  1583  forfeited 
the  family  domains,  was  grandson  of  another,  the  fourth.  His 
daughters  married  McCarthy  Reagh  and  Mac  Ibrien  Ara.  Kildare 
proceeding  to  England  convinced  the  king  of  the  injustice  of  this 
persecution,  and  the  sentence  against  himself  was  annulled  and  he 
was  appointed  governor. 

AYorcester  soon  after  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant  with  Edmund 
Dudley  for  his  representative.  After  the  rising  of  Clarence  and 
"Warwick   he   was    appointed    by  the  king  to  sit  in  judgment   on 


196  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

the  prisoners,  and  the  crueUies  practised  by  his  order  on  twenty  that 
were  condemned,  attached  to  him  the  title  of  "  the  butcher  of 
England.*'  Upon  the  restoration  to  the  throne  of  Henry  he  was 
discovered  by  the  Lancastrians  in  a  tree  in  the  forest  of  Havering, 
and  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill  was  cut  to  pieces  by  sentence  of  John 
de  Vere  earl  of  Oxford,  whose  father  had  been  executed  by  his 
command  in  the  same  place  four  years  before.  He  was  a 
strange  compound  of  considerable  learning,  intellectual  gifts  and 
malignant  cruelty.  He  translated  several  of  the  classics,  and  at 
Rome  by  a  latin  oration  moved  to  tears  the  second  Pius.  His  es- 
tates upon  his  execution  were  given  to  Kildare  as  amends  for  the  in- 
juries sustained  at  his  hands. 

It  was  harder  on  Desmond  to  cut  off  his  head.  He  had  fought 
nine  battles  for  the  house  of  York,  been  instrumental  in  raising  Ed- 
ward to  the  throne,  and  in  saving  the  island  held  by  a  slender  thread 
from  irretrievable  loss  to  the  realm.  Gilbert  charged  him  with  en- 
tertaining the  design  of  making  himself  king  of  Ireland,  but  without 
proof  or  probability.  Such  a  project  could  justly  ,be  imputed  to 
Teigue  O'Brien  his  relative  by  marriage,  whose  death  had  rendered  it 
abortive ;  or  with  some  reason  to  Henry  of  Tyrone  who  had  sup- 
plied Teigue  with  means  for  his  late  raid  into  Munster.  But  both 
Desmond  and  Tyrone  understood  too  well  the  character  of  the  Irish 
chiefs  to  have  any  confidence  in  their  willingness  to  yield  up  their 
valued  independence  to  any  master.  Desmond  in  personal  graces 
and  mental  endowments  surpassed  most  men  of  his  time,  and  it  was 
probably  his  general  popularity  and  vast  possessions  which  engen- 
dered jealousies  and  brought  him  to  the  block.  His  children  were 
too  young  to  resent  his  murder.  Their  uncle  Gerald  gathered  a  pow- 
erful army  and  spoiled  the  English  settlements  in  Munster  and  Lein- 
,ster,  whilst  Meath  and  Louth  were  at  the  same  time  devastated  by 
another  Englishman,  John  Hadesor,  who  having  married  a  daughter 
of  MacMahon  chief  of  Farney,  harried  the  settlers,  Jianging  those 
he  captured  on  trees  by  the  roadside. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  197 

On  this  Gerald  his  second  son,  the  seventh  earl  of  Desmond  had 
bestowed  lands  in  "W'aterford  about  Dungarvan  across  the  Blackvvater 
from  Youghal.  They  consisted  of  north  and  south  Decies  from 
which  comes  the  name  of  Desmond,  property  which  his  ancestor  de- 
rived two  centuries  before  by  marriage  with  Margaret  Fitzanthony, 
and  which  another  heiress  Margaret  Fitzgerald  carried  two  centuries 
later  to  the  Grandisons.  John  son  of  Gerald  by  Margaret  daughter  of 
Mac  Richard  Butler  had  by  Ellen  Fitzgibbon  Catherine  widow  of 
Thomas  Maol  twelfth  earl  of  Desmond.  This  remarkable  personage 
whose  span  of  life  is  said  to  have  extended  over  seven  score,  years, 
from  1464  to  1604,  is  mentioned  by  Morrison  and  Bacon  as  also  by 
Raleigh  whose  residence  at  Youghal  in  1589  was  but  five  miles  from 
the  castle  of  Inchiquin,  which  the  old  countess  occupied  and  of  which 
he  owned  the  reversion.  Raleigh  says  that  she  married  in  the  reio-n 
of  Edward  IV.  and  had  held  her  jointure  ever  since  under  seven  earls. 
Her  husband,  seventy-eight  years  old  when  the  earldom  fell  to  him  in 
1529,  was  ten  years  her  senior  but  not  of  age  Avhen  his  father  was 
beheaded  at  Drogheda  in  1468.  Horace  Walpole  relates  that  she 
danced  with  Richard  HI.  at  the  court  of  his  brother  Edward,  and 
that  she  found  him  a  "  marvellous  proper  man  "  notwithstanding  the 
tradition.  Her  great  aunt  widowed  countess  of  Kildare  survived 
till  1486,  the  earl  her  husband,  lord  deputy,  to  1478,  and  the  at- 
tendance of  Catherine  at  the  English  Court  even  at  an  early  ao"e 
would  not  have  been  remarkable.  Her  second  visit  to  London  more 
than  a  century  later,  mentioned  in  1640  by  Robert  Sydney,  second 
earl  of  Leicester,  is  generally  regarded  as  apocryphal,  and  her  fall 
from  the  cherry  tree  which  hastened  her  end  is  open  to  doubt. 

Some  degree  of  incredulity  as  to  an  age  so  exceptional  has  been 
thought  warranted  by  the  discovery  of  a  lease  of  land  made  in  1505 
to  Julia  daughter  of  Cormac  Ladir  (1411-1494),  who  built  Blarney, 
in  which  Julia  is  described  as  wife  of  Thomas  Maol.  As  his  son 
Maurice  by  this  lady,  deceased  in  1529,  left  a  son  James  called  the 


li)8  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

court  paf^e,  thirteenth  eai'l,  married  when  slain  by  his  kinsman 
Maurice  in  1540,  this  first  marriage  must  have  taken  place  at  least 
as  early  as  1490.  If  Julia  died  in  1505  the  date  of  the  lease,  her 
widowed  husband  may  have  th»n  or  later  married  his  second  cousin 
Katherine  who  ten  years  younger  than  himself  had  considerable  life 
still  left  in  her.  The  statement  of  Raleigh  that  she  had  held  her 
jointure  from  the  reign  of  Edward,  if  this  hypothesis  is  the  true  one 
would  of  course  be  a  mistake,  but  one  not  surprising  considering  the 
lapse  of  time.  Margaret  O'Brien  widow  of  the  ninth  earl  lived  long, 
and  Elinor  Butler  widow  of  the  unfortunate  Gerald  the  sixteenth, 
but  neither  of  them  could  have  been  "the  old  countess  of  1 589." 
Sainthill  supposes  Julia  was  divorced  from  her  husband,  but  it  is  con- 
jecture without  ground  to  rest  upon,  and  his  grandson  married  her 
niece  Mary  daughter  of  Cormac  Oge  (1447 — 1530).  Sound  con- 
stitutions, active  habits  and  excellent  climate  probably  conduced  to 
longevity,  quite  as  much  as  the  baths  of  salt  butter  to  which  it 
was  ascribed  by  Bacon.  It  may  well  be  that  the  place  of  Catherine 
on  the  family* tree  is  lower  down,  but  the  legend  as  it  stands  does 
not  materially  conflict  with  any  well  known  or  established  fact  or 
date.  The  old  countess  is  not  only  a  puzzle  on  the  score  of  her  ex- 
traordinary span  of  existence,  but  also  as  a  genealogical  problem, 
and  they  both  have  since  been  made  thfe  subject  of  several  essays  and 
volumes. 

The  king  sought  to  conciliate  the  sons  of  the  murdered  Desmond. 
To  James  who  succeeded  as  ninth  earl  he  restored  the  confiscated 
estates  of  his  father,  adding  the  castle  of  Dungarvan.  After  flour- 
ishing twenty  years  in  riches,  honor  and  power,  he  came  to  a  tra- 
gical end,  leaving  by  Margaret  O'Brien,  daughter  of  the  prince  of 
Thomond,  a  daughter  who  married  lord  Fermoy.  The  estates  of 
Ormond  were  remote  enough  not  to  be  much  disturbed,  continuing 
in  possession  of  MacRichard  and  his  descendants,  nearly  allied 
to  the  MacMorroghs,  O'Carrols  and  O'Reillys.     Sir  John  kept  aloof 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  199 

for  awhile  wlien  Edward  took  him  into  favor,  declaring  lie  was 
the  goodliest  kniglit  he  ever  beheld  and  the  finest  gentleman  of 
Christendom,  and  that  if  good  breeding,  nurture  and  liberal  quali- 
ties were  lost  in  the  world,  they  might  be  found  in  the  earl  of 
Ormond.  This  paragon  was  master  of  all  the  languages  of  Europe, 
and  there  was  scarcely  a  court  in  it  to  which  he  had  not  been  sent 
as  ambassador,  when  he  died  in  1478  at  Jerusalem.  Edward  had 
bestowed  the  office  of  butler  of  Ireland  on  lord  Welles  and  a  portion 
of  the  prisage  of  wines  on  lord  Dunboyne  for  taking  O'Conor  of 
Offally  prisoner ;  but  an  act  reversing  the  attainder  of  Ormond 
passed  in  1474,  and  in  1481  Thomas  his  brother  and  successor  was 
also  restored  in  blood.  Margaret,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  his  co- 
heiress when  he  died  in  1515,  married  Sir  William  Boleyn  and 
was  grandmother  of  Ann  who  married  Henry  VIII. 

False,  fleeting,  perjured  Clarence,  son-in-law  of  Warwick,  took 
part  with  that  restless  spirit  in  all  his  plots  against  Edward,  and 
when  upon  the  brief  restoration  of  Henry  the  sixth  in  1470,  co-regent 
with  him  of  the  kingdom,  he  was  reappointed  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland,  ^^^llen  Barnet  and  Tewksbury  rej^laced  his  forgiving 
brother  on  the  throne,  he  was  confirmed  in  that  office  for  twenty 
years.  The  close  of  his  feverish  career  in  the  butt  of  Malmsey, 
execution  on  Tower  Hill  of  his  son  Edward  the  last  male  Planta^e- 
net  in  1499,  and  of  his  daughter  Margaret  in  1541  at  the  age  of 
seventy,  have  no  other  connection  with  Ireland  than  from  his  having 
held  so  long  its  lord-lieutenancy.  From  1468  to  1475  the  seventh 
Kildare  administered  the  government  as  his  deputy,  and  to  him  may 
be  attributed  the  orio;in  of  what  has  since  been  known  as  the  English 
pale.  Dikes  were  constructed  to  defend  the  county  of  Dublin,  and 
palisades  and  trenches  about  the  borders  of  the  four  counties.  A 
force  of  men  at  arms  and  archers  was  organized  to  protect  the  capi- 
tal from  sudden  inroads,  and  in  1474. the  St.  George  society 
established,  consisting  of  Kildare  as  president,  Fitzeustace,  Plunketts, 


200  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

St.  Lawrence,  Dowdals,  Barnewal,  Bellew,  Preston  and  Lacy,  with 
tlic  mayors  of  Dublin  and  Drogheda,  and  a  force  of  two  hundred 
men  at  arms,  with  the  same  object.  It  was  given  up  ten  years  later. 
The  earl  had  his  enemies,  and  Sherwood  one  of  them  replaced  him 
in  1475. 

When  the  earl  died  two  years  afterwards,  Gerald  his  son  the 
eighth  Kildare  was  appointed  deputy,  to  give  place  in  a  few  months 
to  Lord  Henry  Grey.  His  letters  of  dismissal  being  under  the 
private  seal  of  the  king,  with  the  connivance  of  the  chancellor  Port- 
lester  his  father-in-law  who  carried  away  the  great  seal  of  L'eland, 
he  continued  to  exercise  his  official  functions,  summoning  and  pro- 
roo-uing  the  parliament  at  Naas,  Grey  deputy  to  the  infant  lord- 
lieutenant  prince  George  holding  his  parliament  also  at  Trim. 
Strange  to  say  the  king  was  powerless  to  stay  or  resent  this  "unseem- 
ly disregard  of  his  authority.  A  new  seal  was  ordered,  the  laws  of 
Naas  were  repealed  and  annulled  by  those  of  Trim,  there  issued 
plentiful  decrees  and  proclamations,  but  Gerald  knowing  his  hold  on 
popular  favor  persisted.  One  infant  viceroy  by  his  death  made 
way  for  another  Richard  his  brother  not  much  older,  but  who  was 
already  contracted  to  Ann  Mowbray  heiress  of  Carlow,  and  to  him 
Preston,  recently  created  viscount  Gormanstown  which  manor  his 
o-reat  grandfather  had  purchased  of  St.  Amand  viceroy  under  Ed- 
ward in.,  was  appointed  deputy.  Preston  by  his  wife  Margaret 
Bermingham  had  claims  in  Carbery  and  Naas  and  was  lord  of  Kells 
in  Ossory.  Roche  was  created  viscount  Fermoy  the  same  year, 
a  rank  the  Barry s  had  held  for  two  centuries  before. 

Amono-  other  acts  of  legislation  at  this  period  by  the  two  parlia- 
ments, selections  from  which  received  the  royal  sanction,  one 
added  to  the  council,  the  archbishops  of  Dublin  and  Armagh, 
and  lords  spiritual  and  temporal  of  the  four  counties  to  fill  any  va- 
cancy in  the  supreme  authority  ;  and  provided  that  the  office  should 
not  be  vacated  by  the  governors  visiting  the  neighboring  islands. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN,  201 

Power  was  given  to  the  mayor  and  council  of  Waterford  to  elect  a 
sheriff  for  the  county,  Richard  Poer  who  had  held  that  office  for 
twenty  years  "  having  kept  the  place  in  terror,  robbing  and  spoiling, 
until  the  whole  neighborhood  had  abandoned  English  speech,  dress 
and  habits  and  obeyed  the  wicked  and  damnable  brehon  law."  An- 
other statute  authorized  Enolishmen  sustaining  damage  from  an  Irish- 
man,  to  be  reprised  out  of  his  sept,  according  to  the  discretion  of  the 
viceroy  and  council.  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  was  empowered  to  sell 
lands  it  could  not  hold  to  Irishmen.  Members  of  parliament,  as  trav- 
elling about  was  attended  with  many  perils,  were  no  longer  required 
to  be  residents  of  places  they  represented.  Rhymers  and  hermits  were 
prohibited  near  the  capital,  trade  at  Irish  fairs  was  interdicted  ;  but 
ecclesiastics  attached  to  religious  houses  were  allowed  to  traffic  with 
Irishmen  and  be  godfathers  to  their  children  with  a  view  of  procur- 
ing intelligence  of  their  plans  and  movements. 

Ivildare  was  too  generally  popular  to  disaffect.  He  was  soon 
restored  to  his  office  which  he  held  for  thirty-three  years  with  brief 
intervals.  To  strengthen  his  own  position  and  English  rule  it  is 
said  he  gave  his  sister  at  this  time  to  O'Neil.  Statements  vary  as 
to  this  alliance.  Henry  MacOwen,  whom  the  annalist  of  the  house 
of  Kildare  designates  as  brother-in-law  of  the  earl,  ruled  over 
Tyrone  from  1455  to  1482,  dying  seven  years  after  his  resignation 
in  favor  of  his  son  Con  Mor.  The  decease  of  Gormlaih  dauo-h- 
ter  of  MacMorrogh  left  him  a  widower  in  1465,  but  he  was  then 
well  advanced,  and  it  seems  more  probable  that  Eleanor  Fitzgerald 
married  Con  who  succeeding  his  father  was  slain  in  1493.  Her 
death  took  place  in  1497,  and  her  son  ConBaccagh,  first  earl  of  Ty- 
rone, espoused  his  cousin  Alice,  daughter  of  Kildare.  By  an  act 
passed  in  1481,  to  Con  Mor  was  extended  the  benefit  of  English  law 
rigorously  withheld  from  his  countrymen.  That  same  year  his 
brother-in-law  had  been  confirmed  as  deputy  for  four  years  with  six 

hundred  pounds  allowance,   the  revenues  of  absentee  estates  and 
26 


202  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

authority  to  occupy  Carlow  and  keep  it,   unless  repaid  within   a 
twelvemonth  by  its  recreant  lords  his  advances  for  recovering  it. 

Confusion  reigned  in  Connaught.  Its  half  kings  and  other 
O'Connors,  MacDermots,  MacDonoghs,  O'Kellys,  O'Hara,  O'Gara, 
Flahertys  and  the  two  houses  of  Burke  were  often  at  feud.  In  1461, 
Hugh  son  of  Turlogh  Oge  worthy  to  be  king  for  his  comeliness, 
valor  and  liberality  to  learned  and  poor,  died  in  his  sixty-third  year. 
MacWilliam  ransomed  Felim  out  of  his  fetters  and  carrying  him  to 
Carn-fraich,  Mac  Dermot  "  put  on  his  shoe  after  buying  it." 
O'Conors  Roe  not  to  be  outdone  gave  O'Connor  Don  half  the  town 
of  Clare  for  his  prisoner  Teigue,  and  MacDermot  was  invited  also  to 
his  installation.  Discussion  led  to  strife,  which  ended  only  when  the 
combatants  at  night  were  too  weary  to  fight  any  longer.  Teigue 
soon  after  whilst  resting  for  refreshments  and  food  on  a  Sunday,  was 
attacked  by  the  sons  of  Brian  Ballagh,  but  as  the  annalists  say 
they  were  fittingly  punished  for  breaking  the  Sabbath.  He  drove 
them  from  their  houses  into  Analy  where  the  O'Farrels  gave  them 
shelter,  and  when  they  returned  on  a  predatory  expedition  into  his 
country,  he  routed  them,  and  took  MacBrannan  prisoner,  releasing  him 
for  eighty  marks  ransom,  the  chief  of  his  sept  shortly  dying  at  an 
advanced  age  impoverished.  Teigue  next  year  killed  Dermot  son  of 
Dermot  at  Oscelin,  and  when  he  himself  died  in  1464,  the  Sil  Mur- 
ray buried  him  as  never  king  was  before,  so  many  horse  and  foot 
attended  his  obsequies,  so  many  herds  and  horses  and  so  much 
money  were  given  for  his  soul. 

Felim  in  1468  took  great  preys  from  O'Connor  Don  and  Hy- 
Many,  and  carried  them  into  Moylurg  to  join  Burke  of  Clanrickard, 
but  after  remaining  a  week  together  they  parted.  On  his  way  home 
Felim  was  overpowered  by  Edmund  MacWilliam  and  forced  to  sur- 
render his  spoils.  Not  disheartened,  with  MacDermot  he  attacked 
Balintober  and  defeated  that  branch  of  his  name  and  the  ClanConway 
at  Skurmore.     In  1470  he  made  peace  with  O'Conor  Koe  and  aU 


TRANSFER     OT     ERIN.  203 

other  of  his  enemies,  but  four  years  later  a  conference  with  O'Kelly 
and  O'Connor  Don  ended  in  an  engagement  in  which  he  was  slain. 
Donogh  the  blackejed,  and  Teigue,  son  of  Owen,  became  rival  com- 
petitors for  his  throne. 

The  year  after,  Tyrconnel  with  his  chiefs  joined  by  MacWilliam  of 
Mayo  marched  against  Clanrickard  to  revenge  his  defeat  at  Crossma- 
crin  two  years  before.  They  burned  Clare  Galway.  Ulick  with  his 
ever  steadfost  friends  the  O'Briens  and  other  chiefs  of  the  Dalgais 
at  BallinduiF  attacked  O'Donnel,  whose  cavalry  put  their  army  to 
rout  there  and  again  when  another  onslaught  was  attempted  at  what 
was  called  the  defeat  of  Glanog. 

In  1470  O'Donnel  after  a  long  siege  compelled  Donnel  son  of 
Owen  O'Conor  to  surrender  the  castle  of  Sligo  and  to  stipulate 
that  tribute  should  be  paid  him  from  lower  Connaught.  On  this 
occasion  he  recovered  two  volumes  the  Leabhar  Gear  and  Leabhar 
Na-h-Uidri  which  had  been  brouo'ht  into  Connauij-ht  in  the  time  of 
John  son  of  Conor,  son  of  Hugh,  son  of  Donnell  Oge  O'Donnel. 
Since  their  capture  they  had  remained  in  the  possession  of  ten  suc- 
cessive lords  of  Ca^bury.  What  is  left  of  the  latter  book,  transcribed 
at  Clonmacnois,  from  earlier  collections,  has  been  mentioned  as 
among  the  treasures  of  the  Royal  Academy. 

Five  years  later  O'Donnel  with  Maguire,  O'Rourke  and  the  chiefs 
of  lower  Connaught  went  on  a  circuitous  hosting.  In  Cavan  he 
rescued  Brian  O'Eeilly  and  made  peace  between  that  chief  and 
O'Rourke.  MacRannall  joined  him  and  he  burnt  Analy  to  assist 
Irial  O'Farrel  and  then  Delvin,  receiving  the  submission  of  Daltons 
and  Dillons.  He  staid  long  enough  in  OfFaly  to  avenge  Nial  Garve, 
captured  in  1435,  ravaging  the  English  on  either  side.  He  de- 
molished castle  Carbury  and  castle  Meyler,  spoiled  the  Melaghlins, 
defeating  them  at  Esker,  and  burnt  Moyelly  and  another  castle  in 
what  is  now  King's  county.  On  the  same  day  he  gained  a  battle  at 
Ballyloe  six  miles  from  Athlone,  over  the  Magawleys.     Crossing  the 


204  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Shannon  into  Hy-Many  he  rested  his  army,  and  marched  home 
through  Clanrickard,  Conmaine,  Costello  and  lower  Connaught,  his 
expedition  having  been  attended  throughout  with  success.  In  1476 
the  Burkes  were  on  the  war  path  helped  by  the  McDonoghs. 
O'Donnel  with  the  MacDermots  opposed  them.  They  made  peace 
without  fighting,  to  the  disadvantage  of  their  neighbors,  Burke 
taking  for  his  share  the  O'Dowd  country,  Leyny  and  one  half  Carbury 
and  O'Donnel  the  other  half. 

In  Tyrone  no  sooner  had  Con  been  installed  in  the  place  of  his 
father  Henry,  than  O'Donnel  pounced  upon  him,  probably  in  antici- 
pation of  the  inaugural  foray  which  Con  would  have  otherwise  inflicted 
upon  Tyrconnel.  With  Clanaboy,  always  at  feud  with  the  elder 
branch  of  his  race  at  Dungannon,  Hugh  plundered  Dundalk,  defeat- 
ed Kildare  who  hastened  to  the  relief  of  his  brother-in-law,  placed 
Louth  under  tribute  and  devastated  Oriel  then  subject  to  O'Neil. 
Felling  the  dense  and  impervious  forests  along  the  Blackwater  he 
made  a  road  for  his  army,  throwing  across  that  river  a  wicker  bridge, 
which  when  his  horse  and  foot  had  crossed  he  floated  down  stream. 
Returning  home  in  triumph  he  had  hardly  reached  Bally  shannon,  be- 
fore he  again  started  on  another  expedition  into  Fermanagh,  bringing 
back  from  the  Maguires  who  had  taken  advantage  of  his  absence  to 
raid  his  country,  considerable  booty. 

Order  and  tranquillity  prevailed  throughout  the  south.  Frequent 
remains  of  castle  and  abbey  then  recently  constructed  and  in  their 
elegance  and  strength,  now  mouldering,  bear  witness  to  the  devotion 
and  prosperity  of  that  interval  of  freedom  from  foreign  domination. 
Desmond  soon  after  his  accession  resorted  to  measures  to  assert  his 
hereditary  rights  or  to  extend  them,  which  exasperated  his  neighbors, 
and  for  a  year  the  McCarthies  kept  him  in  captivity.  When  released 
in  1472,  his  uncle  Gerald,  lord  of  Decies,  who  had  taken  part 
against  him,  felt  the  weight  of  his  displeasure,  and  five  years  later 
with  eighteen  other  Geraldiues   of  note  was  slain.     At  that  par- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  205 

ticular  epoch  Munster  was  momentarily  disturbed.  Finghin  McCar- 
thy Reagh,  prince  of  Carbery,  son  of  Dermot-an-duna,  and  brother- 
in-law  of  Desmond,  seated  near  the  sea  in  his  castles  of  Kilbrittan 
and  Kilgobban  was  at  that  time  the  most  powerful  chieftain  of  the 
south.  Cormac,  one  of  his  cousins,  having  provoked  his  maternal 
uncle  Cormac  Ladir,  lord  of  Muskerry,  by  some  wrong  to  that  chief 
or  to  his  nephews,  other  sons  of  Dermot-an-duna,  he  was  taken 
captive  and  incarcerated  possibly  within  the  lately  erected  walls  of 
Blarney,  and  by  blinding  or  otherwise  rendered  "harmless."  What 
warranted  this  ill  usage  does  not  appear,  but  his  death  or  mutilation 
went  not  unavenged.  Resentment  at  what  his  friends  considered 
excessive  cruelty  led  to  general  war,  not  confined  to  the  immediate 
parties  to  the  quarrel,  but  destructive  throughout  the  whole  southern 
part  of  the  island  and  alike  to  both  bloods. 

It  did  not  last  long,  and  chief  and  sept  resumed  their  usual  avoca- 
tions. ♦  About  Killarney,  McCarthy  Mor  and  the  O'Donoghoes, 
O'Sullivan  Mor  near  Kenmare,  O'SuUivan  Beare  around  the  Bay' 
of  Bantry  with  their  kinsmen  lord  of  Kerry,  O'Connor,  Donavans, 
Mahoneys  and  Driscols,  all  prosperous  and  at  peace,  maintained 
their  independence,  and  their  clans  acknowledged  no  chieftains  but 
themselves.  They  had  reason  to  be  contented,  possessing  so  goodly 
an  heritage.  Sea  and  shore  rendered  them  plentiful  harvests  and  the 
forest  abounded  in  game.  Ireland  was  famous  for  its  hounds  and 
also  for  its  goshawks  and  tercels,  which  demand ''from  other  coun- 
tries rendered  sufficiently  scarce  to  require  their  exportation  to  be 
discouraged.  Enough  were  left,  however,  for  the  gentle  science  of 
falconry  where  feathered  game  abounded  as  in  Munster ;  and  when 
the  chief  engaged  in  the  sport  his  followers  shared  in  its  excitement. 
That  minstrels  abounded  may  be  presumed  from  acts  of  parliament 
at  this  time  to  repress  them,  and  there  were  other  pleasant  pursuits 
to  develop  faculty  and  elevate  taste,  above  the  mere  gratification  of 
physical  need.     The  brehon  law  with  its  social  customs  and  nice 


206  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

distinctions  of  right  and  wrong  inculcated  the  loyalties  of  reciprocal 
obligation,  fostered  a  due  sense  of  their  duties  and  responsibilities, 
whilst  an  educated  and  intelligent  priesthood  inspired  sentiments  of 
piety  and  promoted  religious  observance.  If  in  Ulster  and  Con- 
naught  under  Edward,  war  appears  to  have  been  the  rule,  and  not 
the  exception,  it  was  far  otherwise  in  Munster  and  Leinster,  where 
profound  peace  cherislied  the  growth  of  culture  and  refinement  and 
diffused  the  blessings  of  plenty  and  prosperity. 

"With  such  numbers  of  independent  clans,  however,  whose  active  en- 
ergies found  no  more  congenial  employment  than  war,  and  for  whom 
abounded  many  elements  of  strife  at  home  and  with  their  neighbors, 
absolute  peace  never  reigned  throughout  the  island  unless  in  the  dead 
of  winter,  and  not  always  then,  for  O'Neil  in  1471  besieged  OmagH 
from  autumn  to  spring.  Still  there  were  intervals  of  repose  for  all. 
War  made  widows  and  orphans,  pestilence  contributed  to  the  work 
of  death.  The  plague  brought  from  abroad  to  Assaroe  in  Donegal 
spread  over  the  land  poverty  and  distress.  The  cloister  furnished 
fitting  refuge  for  the  bereaved  and  feeble,  and  more  monasteries  were 
in  request.  McMahonof  Oriel  built  one  at  Monaghan  in  1462  ;  John 
O'Connor  Kerry,  Lislaghtan  in  1470  ;  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnel,  Done- 
gal in  1474  ;  O'Madden,  Michial  in  1479  ;  Kildare,  one  at  Athenry. 
Others  were  founded  by  Ormond  at  Callan  and  by  Bisset  at  Glen- 
cairn. 

Edward  but  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  ascended  the  throne, 
was  little  more  than  forty  when  he  left  it  for  the  tomb.  Brave,  sa- 
gacious, of  a  noble  presence,  afiable  and  popular,  he  proved  a  match 
for  Warwick  in  intrigue,  equalled  in  ability  the  first  and  third  Ed- 
wards his  progenitors,  Louis  XL  of  France,  or  Ferdinand  of  Aragon 
his  cotemporaries.  Whilst  king,t)ne  fifth  of  his  realm,  spoils  of  the 
Lancastrians,  of  whom  more  than  one  hundred  nobles  or  great  pro- 
prietors were  attainted,  vested  in  the  crown.  Subsidies  and  enforced 
loans  poured  into  his  coflTers,  running  over  with  the  profits  of  com- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  207 

mercial  adventure  in  which  he  extensively  engaged.  His  accumula- 
tions were  millions.  He  expended  little  in  war,  and  though  his  wife's 
relatives  partook  of  his  bounty  he  was  not  lavish  and  had  no  favorites. 
Parliament  submitted  to  his  orders  and  he  ruled  England  with  an  iron 
will.  Why  no  effort  was  made  to  extend  his  authority  in  Ireland 
can  only  be  explained  by  his  jealousy  of  the  Lancastrians  in  the 
earlier  part  of  his  reign,  and  his  unwillingness  to  expend  his  hoards 
as  he  grew  older.  Possibly  the  exhausted  state  of  England  from 
tlie  effects  of  the  civil  war  may  have  in  part  dissuaded  more  active 
measures.  He  had  a  numerous  progeny,  but  proved  no  exemplary 
husband,  and  Jane  Shore  was  not  the  only  rival  of  the  queen  in 
his  affections.  Fond  of  literature  from  his  reign  dates  the  introduc- 
tion by  Caxton  into  England  of  the  printing  press,  destined  to  work 
such  momentous  changes  in  the  civilization  of  the  world. 


XXV. 

REIGN    OF   EDWARD   V. — 1483. 

In  the  palace  of  the  doges  at  Venice  a  black  veil  covered  the  space 
upon  the  wall  where  should  have  hung  the  portrait  of  the  beheaded 
Marino  Faliero.  In  English  history  the  ten  weeks  from  the  ninth 
of  April,  when  the  late  king  closed  his  career,  to  the  twenty-second 
of  June,  when  his  brother  Gloucester  usurped  the  crown,  form  a 
blank  equally  suggestive,  left  to  the  manellous  genius  of  the  great 
dramatist,  perhaps  the  best  also  of  England's  historians,  to  fill.  In 
Ireland,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  silence  of  the  annalists,  it  proved  a 
period  singularly  uneventful.  Robert  St.  Lawrence,  lord  of  Howth, 
was  appointed  chancellor,  but  neither  within  nor  without  the  pale,  did 
ought  of  consequence  occur,  to  be  assigned  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty to  the  reign  of  the  unfortunate  youth,  who  hurried  from  the 
palace  to  a  dungeon  was  with  his  brother  smothered  by  the  myrmid- 
ons of  his  wicked  uncle. 


* 

208  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.     . 

XXVI. 

REIGN   OF   RICHARD   III. — 1483—1485. 

The  natural  guardian  of  his  nephew  and  protector  of  the  realm, 
it  proved  no  difficult  task  for  one  so  shrewd  and  unscrupulous  as 
Gloucester  to  gain  adherents,  and  the  unpopularity  of  the  late  king 
towards  the  end  of  his  reign  from  his  arbitrary  exactions  he  contrived 
to  turn  against  the  son.  To  send  Hastings  to  the  block,  to  de- 
clare illegal  his  brother's  marriage  on  the  plea  of  previous  contract*, 
to  denounce  the  late  extortions,  and  convoke  parliament  rarely  con- 
vened by  Edward,  were  successive  rounds  for  an  ambition  which 
with  slight  show  of  reluctance  clutched  the  proffered  sceptre.  Re- 
versals of  attainder,  restoration  of  confiscated  property,  pardons 
judiciously  extended  where  favor  could  be  won,  erased  remembrance 
of  the  means  employed  to  gain  his  elevation,  and  by  fostering  trade 
and  patronizing  learning,  emancipating  bondsmen  on  the  estates  of 
the  crown,  and  assuring  the  liberties  of  the  subject,  Richard  gained 
like  ascendancy  over  the  affections  of  his  people  as  over  Ann  in  the 
play,  who,  the  child  of  Warwick  and  widow  of  that  Edward  whom  he 
stabbed  in  his  angry  mood  at  Tewksbury,  became  his  wife. 

His  Irish  policy  was  equally  sagacious.  Lacy  was  sent  to  sound 
Kildare,  and  if  his  intentions  proved  friendly,  to  confirm  him  for  a 
year  as  deputy  under  Edward,  son  of  the  king,  then  eleven  years  of 
age,  nominated  lord  lieutenant.  Kildare  accepted  the  appointment, 
but  equally  politic  and  wary  solicited  guaranties  for  his  personal  safety, 
extension  of  his  office  for  nine  or  ten  years,  an  annual  salary  of  one 
thousand  pounds,  the  manor  of  Leixleip  and  custody  of  the  castle 
of  Wicklow.  To  these  terms  Richard  signified  his  assent,  sending 
him  the  safe  conduct  he  demanded  and  requesting  his  advice  how 
best  to  bring  the  island  to  subjection  and  obedience.  The  following 
year  Richard  sent  over  Bishop  Barret  to  remind  the  deputy  of  his  in- 
fluence over  his  brother-in-law,  Con  of  Tyrone,  and  urge  his  active 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN.  209 

efforts  to  bring  that  chief  cand  O'Donnel  to  peace  and  allegiance,  that 
Ulster  might  be  reduced  to  possession.  Royal  despatches  to  Barry  and 
Eoche,  Powers,  Fitzeustace,  Plunket,  Delvin  and  Gorraanstown, 
Staunton,  Dexeter,  Nangle,  Bermingham,and  Barret,  enjoined  it  up- 
on them  to  assist.  The  king  sought  to  conciliate  Desmond,  who  had 
not  forgiven  the  execution  of  his  father,  apprising  him  of  his  inten- 
tion to  provide  for  him  an  eligible  consort,  praying  him  to  assume  the 
English  dress,  maintain  the  rights  of  the  church,  repress  spoliation 
and  extortion,  and  render  the  highways  safer  for  travel.  His 
exhortations  were  seasoned  by  gifts,  "  a  golden  collar  and  robe  em- 
broidered with  gold  and  lined  with  damask,  two  doublets  of  velvet  and 
crimson  satin,  three  shirts  and  kerchiefs,  three  stomachers,  three 
pair  of  hose,  scarlet,  black  and  violet,  three  bonnets,  two  hats  and 
two  tippets  of  velvet."  The  earl  accepted  the  gifts  but  paid  little 
heed  to  the  counsel.  He  selected  his  bride  from  the  house  of  Tho- 
mond  and  ruled  his  people  rather  as  an  Irish  chieftain  than  as  an 
English  earl.  How  completely  his  family  had  assimilated  in  speech 
and  taste  to  their  neighbors  is  curiously  exemplified.  A  vellum 
volume  of  Gaelic  writings  is  in  existence,  transcribed  for  the  use 
of  his  sister  Catherine,  wife  of  Finghin  of  Carbery,  by  O'Calladh, 
which  found  in  1805  walled  up  in  the  castle  of  Lismore  takes  its 
name  from  the  place  of  its  concealment. 

Kildare  well  understood  the  value  of  his  allegiance  and  improved 
it  to  his  own  advantage.  He  obtained  permission  to  fortify  his 
county  of  Kildare,  privilege  for  a  market  at  Maynooth,  with  tolls  on 
all  merchandise  exposed  there  for  sale,  a  grant  of  thirteen  and  six 
pence  for  every  ploughland  to  defend  the  pale,  the  profits  of  the  mint, 
and  a  subsidy  for  his  brother  Thomas  the  chancellor  wherewith  to 
build  his  castle  of  Laccagh.  The  account  given  of  "the  great  earl" 
by  English  and  Irish  chroniclers  shows  how  well  he  merited  that 
appellation.  He  was  one  of  the  wisest  statesmen  of  his  age,  and  since 
Warwick  and  Edward  without  superior  in  the  management  of  men. 
27 


210  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

"He  was  a  mighty  man  of  stature  and  goodly  presence,  liberal  and 
merciful,  of  strict  piety,  mild  in  his  government,  and  if  passionate 
easily  appeased.  A  knight  in  valor,  princely  and  religious  in  his 
words  and  judgments,  frank  and  outspoken,  and  of  little  seeming  self- 
control,  he  was  honest,  wise  and  persistent."  "Whilst  studious  of  his 
own  aggrandizement  he  was  never  unmindful  of  English  interests, 
erecting  castles,  planting  colonists  and  rebuilding  ruined  cities,  and 
by  his  wise  administration  preserving  the  island  from  being  absolute- 
ly lost  to  the  crown.  Beloved  generally  by  the  English,  though 
unreserved  toward  such  as  he  did  not  fancy,  he  repressed  rebellion 
with  a  reckless  boldness  which  inspired  respect  from  friend  and  foe. 

But  what  especially  marked  his  policy  was  his  conciliating  the  pow- 
erful chiefs  by  family  alliances.  By  his  first  wife,  heiress  of  Port- 
lester  by  the  daughter  of  the  great  soldier  Jenico  d'Artois,  so  well 
known  in  the  pages  of  Froissart,  he  had  six  admirable  daughters  for 
this  purpose,  whom  he  turned  to  good  account,  contriving  to  attach 
to  himself  the  most  influential  families  of  the  four  provinces  by 
the  disposition  which  he  made  of  them.  Eleanor  the  eldest  was  second 
wife  of  Donnal  Reagh,  son  of  Finghin  of  Carbery,  and  we  shall 
find  her  later  also  spouse  of  Tyrconnel ;  Margaret  the  second,  called 
"the  great  countess  and  wise  enough  to  rule  a  realm,"  he  gave  in  1485 
to  Pierce  Butler,  grandson  of  MacRichard,  who  became  afterwards 
eighth  earl  of  Ormond,  and  whose  maternal  ancestors  had  been  con- 
spicuous among  the  great  chiefs  of  Leinster  ;  Elizabeth  married  Lord 
Slane  ;  Alice,  Con  Baccagh  her  cousin  of  Tyrone  :  andEustachia  less 
fortunate,  Ulick  of  Clanrickarde,  one  of  the  most  considerable  of  the 
Connaught  chiefs,  but  not  of  an  amiable  disposition.  In  this  short 
reign  Kildare  was  still  in  the  early  part  of  a  career  which  lasted  for 
thirty  years  longer  increasing  in  glory  and  power,  but  what  he  was 
and  had  already  accomplished,  fully  justified  the  king  in  his  faith  that 
while  sure  of  Kildare  he  was  sure  of  Ireland. 

Richard  neglected  no  measure  that  would  streno;then  his   hold. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN,  211 

Charters  -vverc  granted  to  Youghal  and  Gal  way,  the  latter  through 
the  influence  of  Dominick  Lynch,  whose  brother  was  its  first  mayor  ; 
Dominick  also  procuring  from  the  Pope  Innocent  VIII.  for  the  bur- 
gesses the  right  to  elect  the  warden  and  vicars  of  their  church 
of  St.  Nicholas.  Under  other  concessions  from  the  king,  Irish 
clerics  received  preferment,  the  friends  of  his  father  rewards,  and  the 
rights  and  claims  of  the  chiefs  were  respected.  At  a  parliament  in 
1485,  after  his  nephew  De  la  Pole  earl  of  Lincoln  succeeded  his  de- 
ceased son  Edward,  forty  pence  from  every  ploughland  in  Meath  were 
levied  to  pay  Cahir  O'Connor  of  OfFaly  his  dues  for  faithful  service. 
That  same  parliament  authorized  Kildare  to  impress  wagons  and 
horses  in  Dublin  and  Meath  for  the  construction  of  Castle  Dermot, 
to  overawe  and  reduce  Carlow  which  had  been  given  him  by  king 
Edward. 


xxvn. 

REIGN   OF   HENRY   VII. — 1485—1509. 

"Wliat  is  generally  termed  Irish  history  is  not  so  much  the  his- 
tory of  Ireland  or  its  people,  as  of  the  English  colonists.  Works 
relating  to  them  have  naturally  little  to  say  to  the  advantage 
of  a  nation  whom  they  had  provoked  by  aggressions  and  spolia- 
tions, and  whose  resentment  they  often  experienced  and  constantly 
had  reason  to  dread.  What  bechanced  the  Irish  themselves  is  more 
meagrely  related  by  their  own  historians.  In  the  existing  state  of  the 
country  few  were  in  condition  to  record  what  occurred  had  it 
been  prudent,  and  after  the  introduction  of  printing  the  English 
turned  it  immeasurably  to  better  account  in  gaining  credence  for  the 
version  that  favored  themselves. 

When  the  roses,  emblems  of  the  two  branches  of  Plantagenet, 
white  of  York,  and  red  of  Lancaster,  stained  and  drenched  in  many 


212  TRANSFEK     OF    ERIN. 

sanguinary  conflicts,  decked  at  last  tlie  throne  of  the  Tudors, 
England  seemed  sufficiently  exhausted  to  leave  at  least  for  a  time 
her  sister  island  at  peace.  The  new  king,  who  now  wore  the  crown 
of  his  ancestor  in  the  fourth  remove,  Edward  the  Third,  as  the 
issue  of  John  of  Gaunt  with  Catherine  Roet  had  been  legiti- 
mated by  act  of  parliament  without  exclusion  from  the  succes- 
sion to  the  throne,  represented  the  house  of  Lancaster,  though 
not  its  eldest  line.  Henry  strengthened  the  position,  gained 
by  his  victory  at  Bos  worth  and  upheld  by  popular  favor,  by  his 
union  in  1485  with  Elizabeth  the  eldest  daughter  of  Edward  the 
Fourth,  who  as  her  two  brothers  had  been  murdered  by  their  uncle 
Richard  in  the  tower,  according  to  accepted  rules  was  the  rightful 
heir.  Pursuing  the  policy  of  his  family,  one  not  uncommon  any- 
where at  that  period  under  similar  conditions,  but  which  in  instances 
paralleled  or  approached  amongst  Irish  chieftains  has  been  inconsist- 
ently made  subject  of  reproach,  he  confined  the  last  male  of  the 
house  of  York,  Edward,  earl  of  Warwick,  son  of  that  duke  of 
Clarence  drowned  in  the  butt  of  malmsey,  to  the  tower. 

The  king  was  not  a  devoted  husband,  and  whether  it  was  from 
this  slight  put  upon  her  niece,  or  from  implacable  animosity  against 
the  house  of  Lancaster  too  long  cherished  to  be  readily  appeased, 
Margaret,  sister  of  Edward  the  Fourth,  and  widow  of  Charles  the 
Bold  of  Burgundy,  engaged  in  a  course  of  systematic  efforts  to  sub- 
vert his  throne,  not  easily  explained  unless  by  some  trickle  in  her 
veins  from  that  ancient  sorceress  of  Anjou  from  Avhom  her  race  are 
said  to  have  descended.  It  seems  equally  incomprehensible  that  the 
Anglo-Irish  lords,  who  were  receiving  from  the  king  every  mark  of 
favor  and  confidence,  little  deserved  at  his  hands  by  their  late  be- 
havior, should  have  lent  themselves  to  these  intrigues.  Gerald, 
earl  of  Kildare,  who  since  his  father's  death  had  held  the  post  of 
deputy,  was  retained  in  that  office.  Thomas,  seventh  earl  of  Ormond, 
whose  family  were  all  along  Lancastrians,  was  restored  to  honor  and 


TRANSFERcOF     ERIN.  213 

estate.  He  succeeded  liis  brother  James,  who  had  died  upon  a  cru- 
sade to  the  east  in  1478,  and  appointed  one  of  the  privy  council  was 
honorably  employed  in  military  and  diplomatic  service,  residing  how- 
ever for  the  most  part  of  his  time  at  court. 

James  ninth  earl  of  Desmond  after  a  general  reign  of  prosperity, 
rich,  influential  and  powerful,  had  been  murdered  by  his  own  ser- 
vants at  his  castle  of  Rathkeale  in  1487,  and  was  buried  at  Youghal 
a  hundred  miles  distant.  His  brother  Maurice,  tenth  earl  1450— 
1520,  whose  wives  were  Ellen  Roche  and  Honor  Fitzgibbon,  was 
still  disaiFected  in  consequence  of  the  execution  of  his  ftither  the 
eighth  earl  at  Droglieda.  Henry  had  some  friends  among  the 
chiefs  of  Munster.  He  empowered  Finghin  McCarthy  Reagh  of 
Carbery,  son-in-law  of  the  Desmond  of  Drogheda,  and  Cormac  Mac 
Teigue  of  Blarney  who  bore  that  relation  to  the  ninth  Kerry,  to 
receive  tlie  homage  of  the  rest,  and  few  took  part  with  Simnel.  The 
other  English  lords  were  of  less  influence  or  power,  but  seemingly  of 
sufficient  intelligence-  not  to  have  been  betrayed  into  such  hazardous 
courses  without  faith  and  reason  for  it  to  rest  upon.  Some  writers 
entitled  to  respect  are  of  opinion  that  the  young  man  who  appeared 
in  Dublin,  in  1486,  as  the  earl  of  Warwick,  was  actually  that 
personage. 

The  pretender  was  crowned  in  Christ  church  in  Dublin,  and  tlie 
next  year  in  July,  1488,  with  his  kinsman  Lord  Lincoln,  Lord 
Lovell  who  perished  in  the  secret  chamber,  Thomas  Fitzgerald  and 
Michael  Swartz  with  two  thousand  Flemings  sent  over  to  his  aid  by 
the  duchess  of  Burgundy,  repaired  to  England,  where  his  army  was 
defeated  at  Stoke  and  himself  captured.  The  king  displayed  much 
magnanimity  in  the  treatment  of  his  prisoner,  who  was  employed 
in  the  royal  kitchen,  and  later  promoted  to  the  post  of  falconer. 
The  English  nobles  and  men  of  property  and  consequence  im- 
plicated in  the  rising  were  attainted,  heavily  fined  or  their  estates 
confiscated.      But  the  hold  on  the  island  depended  so  absolutely 


214  TKANSFE«     OF     ERIN. 

upon  the  Anglo-Irish,  who  had  originated  the  movement  and  were 
the  most  guilty,  that  no  similar  severities  were  ventured  against 
them.  Edo^ecomb  was  sent  over  to  take  their  submission  and 
oaths  of  future  allegiance  and  grant  them  pardon.  The  follow- 
ing year,  1489,  Henry  summoned  them  to  court,  and  the  earl  of 
Kildare,  Barry  Viscount  Buttevant  and  Eoche  of  Fermoy,  Bir- 
mingham Lord  of  Athenry,  DeCourcy  of  Kinsale,  Preston  of 
Gormanstown,  Nugent  of  Delvin,  St.  Lawretice  of  Howth,  Fleming 
of  Slane,  Barnewal  of  Trimleston,  Plunket  of  Dunsany,  were  en- 
tertained by  him  at  Greenwich,  Simnel  waiting  at  the  table  as  their 
cupbearer.  It  is  safe  to  conjecture  that  the  sagacious  monarch,  when 
closeted  with  the  representatives  of  English  rule,  forcibly  im- 
pressed upon  them  the  importance  of  the  policy  best  calculated  to 
preserve  what  estates  they  had  by  consolidating  the  government  and 
contributing  by  their  harmony  to  its  strength.  Whatever  measures 
were  suggested  or  recommended  of  course  naturally  tended  to  subject 
the  Irish  to  greater  thraldom. 

The  duchess  not  discouraged  by  the  failure  of  her  earlier  scheme 
was  now  enijasjed  in  another,  and  in  1492,  Avhile  the  kino;  was  at 
war  with  France,  sent  Perkin  Warbeck  to  Munster,  to  represent 
Richard  duke  of  York,  second  son  of  Edward  the  Fourth.  It  was 
pretended  that  he  was  not  murdered  by  his  uncle,  but  had  escaped 
from  the  tower.  He  was  invited  into  France  and  treated  with  great 
consideration.  Upon  peace  taking  place  soon  after,  he  repaired  to 
Flanders,  where  as  the  White  Rose  of  York,  he  was  made  much  of 
by  Margaret  who  professed  she  was  his  aunt.  He  remained  at  her 
court  till  another  treaty  between  Henry  and  the  Netherlands  drove 
him  first  to  Ireland  and  thence  to  Scotland,  where  James  the 
Fourth  bestowed  upon  him  the  hand  of  Catherine  Gordon,  the  beau- 
tiful daughter  of  the  earl  of  Huntley  and  granddaughter  of  James 
the  First.  In  1497  he  was  again  at  Cork  with  his  wife,  where 
Desmond  joining  him  with  twenty-four  hundred  men,  lie  invested 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  215 

Waterford,  but  being  unsuccessful,  Warbeck  sailed  for  Cornwall. 
He  raised  his  standard  at  Bodmin  as  Richard  the  Fourth,  and  with 
a  few  thousand  hastily  collected  followers  besieged  Exeter.  Dis- 
heartened, he  withdrew  to  Beaulieu  in  Hampshire,  and  soon  after 
surrendered,  but  escaping  from  the  tower  was  again  captured  and 
executed  in  1499  at  Tyburn  with  John  Waters,  mayor  of  Cork,  his 
earliest  and  steadfast  adherent,  while  Desmond  according  to  English 
policy  was  pardoned  and  received  into  favor. 

These  plots,  although  their  theatre  of  operation  was  partially  if 
not  principally  in  Ireland,  and  they  derived  much  of  their  importance 
from  the  support  they  received  from  the  colonists,  have  but  indirect 
connection  with  its  history.  Kildare  was  suspected  of  connivance, 
but  though  prominently  engaged  in  the  cause  of  Simnel,  there  is  no 
good  ground  for  supposing  he  took  any  part  whatspever  in  that  of 
Warbeck.  His  relations  with  the  house  of  Ormond  were  not  friendly, 
and  their  enmity  was  at  no  loss  for  expedients  to  undermine  him 
at  court.  Sir  James  Butler,  natural  son  of  the  sixth  earl,  had  been 
sent  over  in  1492  by  his  uncle  Thomas  the  seventh  as  his  represen- 
tative. With  the  aid  of  the  Burkes  and  O'Briens,  he  compelled  the 
retainers  of  Ormond  to  recognize  his  authority  and  accept  him  as 
their  chief,  the  I'elation  of  an  English  lord  to  his  tenants  and  vassals 
in  Ireland  being  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  chieftain  to  his  clan. 
After  obtaining  pledges  of  submission,  their  forces  marched  through 
Leinster  and  JNIeath.  Whilst  the  adherents  of  Sir  James  were  quar- 
tered in  Ship  street,  in  Dublin,  some  commotion  occurred,  and  it 
was  said  that  the  conflagration  which  ensued  was  purposely  set  by 
Kildare.  His  course,  whatever  it  may  have  been,  was  no  doubt  main- 
ly controlled  by  his  wish  to  maintain  the  royal  authority.  But  there 
may  have  been  other  motives  for  hostility.  It  was  in  contemplation 
to  legitimate  by  act  of  parliament  Sir  James,  who  was  well  liked  for 
his  popular  qualities  and  respected  for  his  talents.  The  next  in  suc- 
cession was  a  distant  kinsman  of  the  earl,  and  even  more  intimately 


216  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

connected  by  consanguinity  and  friendship  with  the  Irish  chiefs  than 
Kildare,  who  had  given  him  his  sister  Margaret  in  marriage.  Sir 
James  was  appointed  with  Garth,  sent  over  as  commissioner,  to  the 
mihtary  government  of  Tipperary  and  Kilkenny,  and  received  a 
grant  of  all  land  in  those  counties  belonging  to  the  earldom  of 
March,  then  vested  in  the  crown.  Garth  causing  Calvaoh  son  of 
O'Carrol  of  OfFaly  to  be  put  to  death,  Kildare  his  kinsman  hung  the 
son  of  Garth.  Quarrel  existed  between  the  Archbishop  Fitzsymons 
and  Rowland  Eustace  father-in-law  of  Kildare,  who  for  nearly  half 
a  century  had  been  treasurer.  These  complications .  led  to  the  re- 
moval of  Kildare,  the  archbishop  replacing  him,  and  also  of 
Eustace,  who  was  called  to  rigorous  account  for  his  administration  of 
the  finances.  Kildare  was  sent  over  to  London,  but  was  again  in 
Ireland  in  1494.« 

In  that  year  Sir  Edward  Poynings,  an  able  statesman  and  accom- 
plished officer  sent  over  as  deputy,  inaugurated  his  administration  by 
an  inroad  on  O'Hanlon  and  Macginnis  on  the  borders  of  Ulster 
and  not  far  from  the  pale,  and  when  they  withdrew  into  their  fast- 
nesses he  destroyed  twenty-five  of  their  towns  and  villages.  The 
castle  of  Carlow  having  been  seized  by  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  brother  of 
Kildare,  a  diversion  designed  in  favor  of  the  Ulster  chiefs,  the  deputy 
making  the  best  terms  in  his  power  with  them,  marched  south  with  his 
forces  and  retook  it.  A  few  weeks  later  he  convened  the  parliament 
at  Drogheda,  composed  of  members  under  his  control,  and  there  was 
enacted  the  famous  statute  known  by  his  name.  It  was  established 
by  this  law  that  no  session  should  thereafter  be  held  of  the  Irish 
parliament  without  express  consent  of  the  king,  and  after  first  submit- 
ting for  royal  sanction  all  acts  proposed  to  be  passed.  It  was  also 
provided  that  all  general  laws  of  the  English  parliament  should  take 
effect  and  be  enforced  in  Ireland.  The  statute  of  Kilkenny  was 
confirmed  except  the  clauses  prohibiting  the  use  of  the  Irish  language. 
Pales  and  moats  were  ordered  to  be  constructed  for  the  protection  of 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  217 

the  four  counties,  and  proprietors  in  the  marches  were  ordered  when 
absent  to  leave  sufficient  deputies  in  their  place.  Colonists  were  to 
provide  themselves  with  bows  and  arrows,  and  butts  for  practice  to 
be  erected  in  the  towns  and  villages.  It  attainted  Kildare  for  col- 
lusion with  O'Hanlou.  Family  war  cries,  such  as  Crom-a-boo  of  the 
Kildares,  Seanaid-abu  of  the  Desmonds,  Butler-abu,  Lamh-dearg-abu 
of  the  O'Neils,  Lamh-laider-abu  of  the  O'Briens,  McCarthies  and. 
Fitzmaurices,  were  forbidden,  and  coyne,  livery  and  purveyance. 
It  ordered  the  resumption  of  land  grants  since  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward the  Second,  repealed  the  privilege  of  sanctuary  in  the  island 
for  rebel  refugees,  and  constituted  the  lord  treasurer  governor  in  case 
of  vacancy.  In  1498  the  previous  arrangement  was  restored  which 
vested  the  election  in  the  council  as  then  constituted.  These  laws 
passed  by  a  few  English  colonists,  and  not  all  even  of  them  represent- 
ed, had  no  authority  outside  the  pale,  but  as  English  rule  extended 
over  the  island,  they  became  of  more  general  obligation  and  observ- 
ance. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  although  cannon  had  been  used  at  Cressy 
in  1346,  a  century  and  a  half  later  fire  arms  were  little  known  in 
warfare,  and  bows*and  arrows,  axes,  swords  and  spears  the  principal 
dependence.  The  first  mention  of  hand  guns  in  Ireland  is  under 
date  of  1487.  Brien  O'Rourke  was  killed  by  Hugh  O'Donnel  Gpallda 
or  the  "Anglicised"  by  a  shot  from  a  gun.  Kildare  the  follow- 
ing year  battered  down  the  castle  of  Balerath  in  Westmeath  belong- 
ing to  the  Mageoghans  with  artillery,  and  about  the  same  time  re- 
ceived from  Germany  six  hand  guns  which  his  sentinels  bore  on  guard 
at  Thomas  Court  his  residence  in  Dublin.  The  septs  realizing  their 
disadvantage  in  fighting  without  adequate  protection  against  enemies 
encased  in  iron  or  steel,  had  gradually  accustomed  themselves  to  the 
use  of  defensive  armor,  and  O'Donnel  in  a  raid  into  Tyrone  carried 
off  seventeen  complete  suits.     The  substitution  of  the  new  weapons 

was  gradual  and  became  general  more  than  a  century  later,  but  the 
28  ♦ 


218  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

change  worked  in  favor  of  the  English  who  could  more  easily  procure 
them,  and  their  improvement  led  in  time  to  the  abandonment  of  all 
armor  as  worse  than  useless.  This  innovation  revolutionized  military 
science  and  feudal  methods  of  warfare  slowly  passed  into  desuetude. 
Trains  of  artillery  from  their  cost  were  confined  to  the  government 
or  wealthy  lords.  The  lower  orders  were  left  powerless  to  resist  op- 
pression. Combats  again  depended  not  so  much  on  personal  valor, 
as,  at  the  invasion,  upon  superior  weapons,  and  the  richer  nation  had 
less  diflSculty  in  subjugating  the  weaker  whose  comparative  poverty 
prevented  their  procuring  as  good.  Development  of  commerce 
from  the  discovery  of  America  and  influx  later  ef  the  precious  met- 
als, the  changed  standard  of  right  and  wrong  from  the  accepted 
doctrine  that  might  made  right,  lessened  respect  for  property  and 
helped  along  Irish  subjugation  effected  under  the  Tudors. 

Kildare  after  his  attainder  was  sent  prisoner  to  London,  but  his 
reply  to  the  king,  when  charged  with  burning  the  cathedral  of 
Casliel,  that  he  thought  the  archbishop  was  within,  and  when  advised 
by  Henry  to  retain  good  counsel,  that  he  had  chosen  the  best,  for  he 
had  selected  himself,  gained  the  monarch's  good  will,  who  when  told 
that  all  Ireland  could  not  govern  Kildare,  exclaimed  that  he 
was  fitted  to  rule  Ireland.  He  was  restored  to  his  dignities  and 
possessions,  and  Henry  gave  him  to  wife  his  cousin  Elizabeth 
St.  John,  in  place  of  his  countess,  Portl ester's  daughter,  who 
had  died  from  anxiety  at  his  imprisonment.  He  was  sent  back 
in  1496  to  Ireland  as  deputy.  His  eldest  son  Gerald,  with  whom 
was  matched  a  daughter  of  lord  Zouche  of  Codnor,  retained  for  a 
time  as  pledge  for  his  father's  fidelity,  was  soon  allowed  to  join 
him,  and  in  1503  appointed  treasurer. 

The  earl  upon  his  return  marched  into  Thomond  in  the  interests  of 
his  brother-in-law  Piers,  afterwards  eighth  eai-1  of  Ormond.  Conor 
Na  Srona  O'Brien,  chief  of  the  Dalgais,  defeated  him  at  Ballyhickey, 
and  recovered  back  the  castle  of  Felyback  which  he  had  taken  from 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  219 

Florence  MacNaraara.  Conor's  daughters  were  wives  of  tlie  chief 
of  Tyrconnel,  of  Clanrickard  and  O'liuare  of  Breffny.  Upon  his 
death  soon  after  he  was  succeeded  not  by  his  son  Donough,  but  by 
his  brother  Torlogh  Oge,  and  this  chief  by  their  nephew  Torlogh 
Don,  who  favored  the  pretentions  of  Sir  James  as  head  of  the  But- 
lers. Piers  were  forcod  to  lurk  in  the  forests  for  safety  and  reduced 
to  impoverishment.  His  wife  suffering  from  want  of  the  usual  com- 
forts of  life  and  limited  to  a  milk  diet  when  her  health  required  wine, 
expressed  her  discontent.  Piers  learning  that  Sir  James  was  on  his 
way  to  Kilkenny  accompanied  by  six  horsemen,  though  himself 
having  but  a  single  attendant,  attacked  and  slew  him,  and  from  that 
time  until  the  death  of  earl  Thomas,  twenty  years  later,  as  next  in 
succession  to  the  earldom  to  which  he  eventually  succeeded,  was  the 
recognized  head  of  the  family  in  Ireland. 

Soon  after  James  was  slain  Kildare  commenced  hostilities  against 
Thoraond.  Torlogh  rallied  his  forces,  and  the  Butlers  were  de- 
feated at  INIoyalis  in  Ormond  after  a  fiercely  contested  engagement. 
Obtaining  reinforcements,  the  earl,  later  in  the  year  1498,  made  an 
incursion  into  Connaught,  took  Athleague  from  the  Kellys  of  Hy- 
Many,  Tulsk,  Roscommon,  and  Castlerea  from  O'Conors,  bestow- 
ing them  upon  disaffected  chiefs  of  their  respective  families.  This 
exercise  of  authority  by  virtue  of  superior  force  was  characteristic 
not  only  of  the  earl  but  of  his  line,  eager  to  impress  upon  the 
less  poAverful  tlieir  own  superiority.  He  was  prompted,  however, 
by  another  motive  ;  his  daughter  had  married  the  third  Ulick  of 
Clanrickard,  who  had  provoked  his  paternal  resentment  by  harsh 
treatment  of  his  wife. 

It  was  said  to  have  been  in  consequence  of  this  conjugal  infelicity 
and  unpleasant  relation  between  the  earl  and  his  son-in-law,  that 
these  two  representatives  of  foreign  race  brought  about  one  of  the 
most  sanguinary  conflicts  of  the  period,  in  which,  though  Englishmen 
directed  the  military  movements,  not  an  Englishman  was  slain.     This 


220  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

strange  fact  and  others  not  dissimilar  suggest  treachery,  hardly 
credible,  however,  as  the  recommendation  of  Gormanstown  after  the 
battle,  to  slaughter  their  Irish  auxiliaries,  would  appear  to  have  been 
rather  in  grim  humor  than  in  earnest.  The  immediate  circumstance 
that  led  to  the  battle  of  Knocktow,  Aug.  19,  1504,  was  the  demand 
at  Dublin  of  the  O'Kelly,  whom  Kildare  had  placed  in  possession  of 
Hy-Many  and  who  hadbeen  subsequently  driven  out  by  Clanrickard, 
to  be  reinstated.  The  deputy  collecting  a  large  force  from  Leath- 
con,  or  the  north  part  of  the  island,  O'Donnells,  O'Conors  Koe, 
MacDermots  of  Moylurg,  O'Neils,  all  but  the  O'Neil  himself, 
Magennis,  MacMahons  and  O'Hanlons,  O'Reillys,  O'Farrells, 
O'Conor  Faly,  MacSweenys,  and  Burkes  of  Clanwilliam,  marched 
into  Connaught.  They  were  opposed  by  Clanrickard,  O'Briens, 
MacNamaras,  O'Carrolls  of  Ely  and  the  leading  warriors  of  Ormond 
and  Ara.  It  was  a  struggle  between  the  septs  north  and  south,  of 
Leath  Con  against  Leath  Mogha ;  and  of  nine  divisions  in  the 
army  of  the  latter  there  remained  after  the  action  but  one  bat- 
talion and  that  disorganized.  The  fight  long  and  bloody,  from 
two  to  nine  thousand  being  the  statement  of  the  slain,  is  de- 
scribed with  much  animation  in  the  annals  of  Ulster,  and  defects 
of  expression  may  be  ascribed  to  difficulty  of  translation.  "Far 
off  was  heard  the  onset  of  martial  chiefs,  the  vehement  efforts  of 
the  champions,  royal  heroes  rushing  to  the  charge,  battle  cries  of 
leaders,  calls  of  endangered  battalions,  shouts  of  victory,  the  clang 
of  the  dead  as  they  fell,  the  rout  of  the  multitude  by  nobles  invul- 
nerable in  steel.  The  plain  was  covered  with  mangled  carcasses, 
spears,  shields,  and  swords,  shattered  or  cloven,  beardless  youths 
lying  unsightly  in  death,"  Victory  declared  for  the  north,  but  they 
paid  dearly  for  their  triumph,  for  when  after  the  fight  it  was  proposed 
to  march  on  to  Galway,  O'DonncU  objected  that  a  considerable 
number  of  their  forces  had  been  overpowered  or  slain  and  others  of 
them  scattered,  and  that  it  was  advisable  to  remain  for  the  ni^ht  on 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  '         221 

the  field  in  token  of  victory,  and  for  the  dispersed  to  rally  round  their 
banners.  They  took  Gahvay  on  the  morrow,  and  after  some  days 
rest  went  to  Athenry  which  also  surrendered. 

To  this  internecine  warfare,  which  like  that  of  Athenry  two  cen- 
turies before  was  mainly  of  clan  against  clan,  is  generally  attributed 
Ireland's  final  decline  and  subjugation.  Thus  easily  persuaded  to 
mutual  slaughter  by  crafty  and  treacherous  enemies,  who,  however 
individually  honest,  were  by  the  course  of  events  instrumental  in 
carrying  out  the  diabolical  policy  of  English  interests,  all  mutual 
confidence  was  lost  amongst  the  chieftains,  and  efficient  combination 
against  their  common  danger  rendered  impossible.  A  brief  interval  of 
repose  after  this  bloody  conflict  extended  to  the  close  of  Henry's 
reign  in  1509. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Kildare,  excepting  for  the  brief  rule  of 
Fitzsymons,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  appointed  to  supersede  him  in 
1492,  of  Preston  left  at  the  head  of  affiiirs  when  the  archbishop 
went  to  Er^land,  and  the  eventful  administration  which  followed 
of  Sir  Edward  Poynings  closing  in  1496,  retained  the  office  of 
lord  deputy  or  justice  throughout  thp  reign  of  Henry  VII., 
soon  after  whose  accession  Jasper  duke  of  Bedford  was  nominated 
lord  lieutenant.  The  son  of  the  king,  afterwards  his  successor 
as  Henry  VIII.  in  1494,  at  the  age  of  four  succeeded  his  uncle,  but 
neither  of  them  took  any  part  in  the  government. 

This  victory  at  Knoctow,  in  which  he  was  the  princi[)al  leader 
in  the  actual  battle,  proved  the  last  exploit  of  Hugh  O'Donuel, 
since  his  reign  of  forty-four  years  soon  after  ended  with  his  life 
at  the  age  of  nearly  four  score.  We  left  him  in  1483  engaged  in  ex- 
peditions against  Con  INIore  of  Tyrone  and  Maguire'  of  Fermanagh . 
The  great  clans  of  Kinel  Owen  and  Kinel  Connel  were  too  near 
neighbors  to  remain  long  at  peace  ;  but  the  two  following  cam- 
paigns  were   simple    marauds,   and  either    chieftain  had  for    allies 

»  PaL'e  204. 


222  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

members  of  the  opposing  sept»  In  1488  O'Donnel  concluded 
the  peace  of  Sil  Murray  with  Clanrickard  and  Felim  Finn  O'Con- 
nor, an  active  chieftain  ambitious  of  consolidating  under  his  rule 
the  severed  branches  of  the  O'Conors  of  Connaught.  O'Donnel 
that  year  defeated  MacWilliam  of  Mayo  in  Tyrawley,  and  the 
next  invaded  BrefFny  to  adjust  a  quarrel  of  the  O'Rourkes.  He 
thence  proceeded  into  Moylurg,  where  one  of  the  MacDermots  in 
his  army  despoiling  a  church,  he  compelled  restitution,  and  one  of 
the  O'Rourkes  being  guilty  of  a  like  depredation  on  the  church  of 
Drum,  he  delivered  him  up  as  a  pledge  till  satisfaction  was  made. 

In  1490  he  invaded  the  MacQuillans  and  with  his  spoils  pro- 
ceeded to  Belfast  which  he  reduced  and  demolished  the  castle. 
Elate  with  success,  he  was  in  no  humor  to  submit  to  the  arrogant 
pretensions  of  Con  Mor  of  Tyrone,  and  to  his  demand  to  "  send  him 
tribute  or  else — "  replied  that  "  he  owed  him  none,  but  if — ."  They 
gathered  their  forces  and  for  several  weeks  lay  opposed,  O'Donnel 
at  Drumbo  in  Donegal,  Tyrone  three  miles  south  of  L^pndonderry, 
retiring  to  their  respective  abodes  at  Christmas,  without  peace  or 
armistice,  or  coming  to  battle.  Early  the  next  year  disposed  to 
reconciliation,  they  submitted  in  person  their  grievances  to  the 
deputy,  but  during  their  absence  one  of  the  O'Donnels  fell  in  a 
skirmish  with  Henry  O'Neil,  Tyrone's  lieutenant,  which  widened 
the  breach.  They  were  both  however  too  sagacious  to  waste 
their  strength  in  fruitless  bloodshed,  and  in  1492  an  armistice 
was  concluded  to  continue  till  the  following  May.  But  in  January 
Con  Mor  was  slain  by  his  brother  Henry  Oge,  who  supported 
by  the  Kanes  and  Mellans,  claimed  the  chieftainship.  O'Donnel 
interposed  for  Donnel  the  elder  brother,  and  next  in  succession, 
but  who  was  defeated  at  Glasdrummond. 

The  chief  of  Tyrconnel  rallied  an  army  in  Connaught,  and  with 
O'Conors  and  O'Rourkes  marched  across  the  Island  to  Clanaboy. 
At  Mourna  in  Down  his  army  was  overtaken  and  smTOunded  by 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  223 

O'Neil's  ;  but  he  pressed  his  way  through  them  till  he  gained  a  large 
plain  favorable  for  an  engagement  and  there  drew  up  his  forces  in 
battle  array.  A  fierce  and  obstinate  conflict  ensued,  "in  which  they 
bore  in  mind  all  their  old  enmities  and  new  hatreds."  O'Donnel 
conquered,  but  the  darkness  of  the  night  prevented  pursuit  of  the 
vanquished.  He  had  that  year  lost  his  chief  ollav  in  literature, 
poetry  and  history,  O'Clery,  who  kept  a  house  of  hospitality  for 
rich  and  poor.  He  compelled  the  Melaghlins  to  submit  to  the 
O'Rourke  and.  beleaguered  Sligo.  In  1494  he  paid  his  famous  visit 
to  the  king  of  Scotland,  James  the  Fourth,  and  returned  to  find  his 
son  Con  beset  by  O'Conors  and  MacDermots.  He  hastened  to  his 
relief,  defeating  their  forces,  MacDonogh  lord  of  Tirerill,  O'Dowd 
and  O'Gara  falling  in  the  battle  that  ensued. 

Con  coveting  a  fine  steed  of  Bisset  or  MacKeon  of  the  Glinns, 
who  had  also  wife  and  hound  equally  famous,  proceeded  with  six 
score  axe  men  and  as  many  horse  to  his  house  to  capture  them, 
which  he  effected,  releasing  all  but  the  horse  and  some  prey  of 
cattle  which  he  carried  off".  He  then  gathered  larger  numbers  of 
his  father's  retainers,  crossed  the  Shannon  into  Munster  and  spoiled 
Magonihy,  a  country  of  MacCarthy  Mor,  and  returned  with  liis 
spoils  into  Donegal  unopj)osed. 

His  father  next  year  went  into  Oriel  to  assist  Brian  to  obtain  the 
chieftainship,  and  spoiled  the  O'Reillys  and  the  English  settlements 
in  Louth.  He  made  peace  for  Carbury,  placing  Felim  in  possession 
of  the  chieftainship.  During  his  absence  his  son  Hugh  Oge  took 
possession  of  Ballyshannon.  Con  hastened  to  retake  it,  but  was 
driven  off"  into  Donegal  by  Hugh  and  Maguire,  in  their  turn 
defeated  by  Con,  who  had  mustered  a  larger  force  and  took  for 
spoil  on  this  occasion  one  hundred  and  ten  horses,  besides  Maguire 
himself.  Hugh  Oge  soon  after  slew  a  number  of  his  kinsmen  in  his 
camp,  and  the  aged  chieftain  disgusted  at  the  fro  ward  behavior  of  his 
sons  resigned  the  chieftainship  of  Tyrconnel  to  Con.     Hugh  defeat- 


224  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

ed  Con,  and  Con  Hugh  who  was  sent  prisoner  to  Conmalne  Cuilla  in 
Connaught.  Con  then  invaded  Moylurg,  but  was  vanquished  at 
Ballaghboy,  the  pass  to  Sligo  through  the  Curlew  mountains,  losing 
in  the  fight  several  of  his  chiefs,  Mac  Sweeneys,  O'Gallaghers  and 
O'Doherty,  as  also  the  Cathach  a  sacred  box  containing  the  Psalter 
of  St.  Columba,  always  carried  at  the  head  of  the  Kinel  Conn  el 
army  on  their  expeditions,  as  a  palladium  of  success.  Con  hurried 
back  to  Donegal  to  be  slain  by  Henry  Oge  O'Niel,  several  O'Donnels 
Boyles  and  O'Gallaghers  falling  with  him  in  the  fight. 

Hugh  Roe  resumed  the  chieftainship,  proffering  it  to  Hugh  Oge 
who  declined  it  and  who,  his  rival  now  removed,  proved  ever  after- 
wards a  loyal  son,  aiding  to  put  down  their  neighbors  who  had 
taken  advantage  of  these  family  quarrels.  Whilst  his  father  visited 
Kildare  to  receive  that  earl's  son  Henry  Fitzgerald  into  fosterage, 
Hugh  Oge  attacked  Art  O'Neil  and  took  from  him  Castlemoyle. 
Another  son  of  Tyrconnel,  Donogh,  had  risen  in  rebellion  and  seized 
Bundrowes,  but  captured  by  his  father  and  brother  was  delivered  up 
to  Maguire.  Hugh  Hoe  then  reduced  Moylurg,  recovering  the 
Cathach  now  in  the  Irish  academy  ;  the  next  year  he  demolished  Dun- 
gannon,  and  joining  forces  with  Kildare  took  the  castle  of  Kinard 
from  John  Boy  O'Neil  and  gave  it  to  Turlogh  the  earl's  nephew  from 
whom  Donnel  O'Neil  wrested  it  a  few  weeks  later.  Donogh  still 
o-ivino-  his  father  trouble  he  was  maimed  and  died  in  consequence. 

A  twelve  month  after  the  battle  of  Knoctow,  Hugh  Roe  ended  his 
active  career.  The  chroniclers  make  mention  of  him  "as  lord  of 
Tvrconnel,  Inieshowen,  Kinel  Moen  and  lower  Connaught,  a  man 
who  had  obtained  hostages  from  the  people  of  Fermanagh,  Oriel, 
Clannaboy  and  the  Route,  from  O'Kanes  and  also  from  the  English 
and  Irish  of  Connaught,  except  Clanrickard,  and  his  territory  from 
the  river  Suck  to  Kinel  Aedha  he  made  tributary.  This  O'Donnel, 
the  full  moon  of  the  hospitality  and  nobility  of  the  north,  the 
most  jovial  and  valiant,  the  most  prudent  in  war  and  peace,  and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  225 

of  the  best  jurisdiction,  law  and  rule  of  all  the  Gaels  in  Ireland 
in  his  time,  for  there  was  no  defence  of  any  house  except  to  close 
the  door  against  the  wind  only ;  the  best  protector  of  the  church 
and  learned  men,  who  had  given  great  sums  in  honor  of  the  Lord, 
who  erected  the  castle  and  monastery  of  Donegal ;  who  had  made 
many  predatory  excursions  throughout  the  land,  and  might  be 
justly  styled  the  Augustus  of  the  north-west  of  Europe,  died  at 
the  age  of  seventy-eight  at  his  fortress  at  Donegal."  The  encomiums 
lavished  on  this  chief  may  be  somewhat  extravagant,  but  that  he  was 
a  wise  ruler  and  an  excellent  commander,  besides  possessing  many 
noble  traits  of  character,  as  shown  throughout  his  career,  cannot 
well  be  questioned.  Ilis  frequent  military  expeditions  were  for 
the  most  part  to  prevent  injustice  and  grew  out  of  the  state  of  the 
times. 

Henry  O'Xeil  in  1483,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  resigned 
the  chieftainship  to  his  son  Con  Mor,  surviving  his  abdication  six 
years.  Two  other  of  his  sons  Donnel  and  Henry  Oge  in  turn  held 
sway  over  Tyrone.  In  1470,  Con  Avho  succeeded  his  father  had 
avenged  the  death  of  his  brother  Eory  by  slaying  six  of  his  kins- 
men implicated  in  his  taking  off,  and  ten  years  afterwards  we  find 
him  occupied  in  negotiating  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  chief  of 
Tyrconnel  at  Castlefin  in  Donegal.  The  treaty  effected  proved  of 
little  avail,  for  the  following  year  taken  prisoner  by  the  O'Neils  of 
Clanaboy,  Con  Mor  was  given  in  charge  to  O'Donnel,  remainino-  in 
captivity  till  ransomed  by  his  father,  and  with  the  consent  of  the 
sept  inaugurated  its  chief.  At  what  period  his  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  Kildare  occurred  does  not  appear,  but  their  sons  in 
1498  were  already  grown  to  manhood.  Kildare  his  brother-in- 
Jaw  soon  after  his  inauguration  came  to  assist  him  in  battle  with 
O'Donnel,  but  they  were  badly  defeated  near  Dundalk.  War 
continued  for  several  years  with -little  actual  bloodshed,  when  Con 

in  1488  repairing  to  the  house  of  O'Donnel,   it  was   brouo-ht  to  a 
29 


226  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

close  for  a  brief  respite.     Two  years  before  he  bad  invaded  Louth, 
and  after  that  took  hostages  from  O'Kane. 

This  peace  proved  like  the  rest  delusive,  and  their  armies  were  con- 
fronted for  a  time  without  a  battle.  Kildare's  efforts  to  brinsf  about 
a  reconciliation  were  unavailing,  though  an  armistice  for  a  few 
months  w^as  concluded.  In  1493  Con  a  brave  and  warlike  man 
and  generous  was  killed  by  his  own  brother  Henry  Oge.  Their 
elder  brother  Donnel  nominated  chieftain  was  routed  by  Henry, 
who  sustained  a  defeat  at  Beanna  Boirche  from  O'Donnel,  that 
chief  exerting  his  influence  in  favor  of  Donnel  who  still  claimed  the 
headship  of  Tyrone. 

In  1497,  upon  the  release  without  ransom  of  his  son  Hugh,  who 
had  been  captured,  and  in  consideration  of  great  gifts  of  land,  steeds 
and  armor,  he  yielded  the  supremacy  to  Henry.  That  chief  the  same 
year  invading  Tyrconnel  returned  victorious,  to  be  slain  the  next  by 
Turlogh  and  Con,  sons  of  Con  INIor  whom  he  had  murdered  five 
years  before.  Donnel  resumed  the  sovereignty.  Surprised  at  Dun- 
gannon  by  Felim,  son  of  Henry,  he  sustained  some  loss,  but  Kildare 
comino;  to  the  rescue  took  Duno-annon  "with  crreat  ouns  "  leavinsj 
Donnel  in  peaceable  possession,  and  in  1500  likewise  reduced  Kinard. 
This  he  gave  to  his  nephew  Turlogh  O'Neil,  soon  after  driven  out 
of  it,  ''which  led  to  much  war  in  Tyrone."  Donnel  was  invaded  by 
O'Neil  of  Clanaboy.  Dungannon  taken  by  O'Hogan  was 
speedily  recovered  and  the  assailants  hung,  but  the  year  after 
it  was  burnt  by  O'Donnel,  and  in  1507  again  invested  when  Donnel 
made  peace.  His  nephews,  sons  of  Con,  left  him  little  repose,  and 
in  1509  took  from  him  Dungannon  whilst  Kildare  demolished 
Omagh.  That  year,  Donnel,  "  who  had  destroyed  many  men  and 
committed  many  depredations  to  gain  and  keep  the  chieftainship," 
went  to  his  fathers  ;  and  Art,  son  of  Hugh  son  of  Owen,  rqydamma 
or  tanist,  at  whose  house  the  sons  of  Con  Mor  slew  Henry  Oge,  was 
installed  in  his  place. 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  227 

In  Oriel,  Redmond  MacMahon  succeeded  his  brother  Owen  son 
of  Rury  in  the  chieftainship  in  1467,  but  taken  prisoner  by  Hugh 
Oge  and  the  English  in  1478,  ended  his  days  six  years  later  in  the 
prisons  of  Drogheda.  Hugh  Oge  son  of  Hugh  Roc  son  of  Rury 
succeeding  burnt  twenty-eight  English  villages.  After  other  ex- 
ploits he  died  blind  in  1490,  making  way  for  Brian  son  of  Red- 
mond, when  for  several  years  war  raged  between  the  rival  branches 
of  the  name.  In  one  of  the  combats  fought  between  them,  at 
Ath-an-Choileir,  Turlogh  O'Neil  nephew  of  Kildare  was  slain. 
In  Fermanagh  Edmund  followed  Thomas  Oge  in  1472,  and  sixteen 
years  after  resigned  in  favor  of  John,  son  of  Phillip  the  former 
tanist,  Avho,  "merciful  and  humane,  best  in  jurisdiction,  authority 
and  regulation,  in  church  and  state,"  died  followed  by  Connor, 
who  in  1527  was  succeeded  in  the  chieftainry  by  Cuconnaught. 
Turlogh  O'Reilly  son  of  John  was  elected  lord  of  BrefFny  in  1468 
upon  the  death  of  Cathal  son  of  Owen.  His  own  castle  Tulla- 
mongan  was  burnt  that  year  by  the  English,  and  in  1485  he  burnt 
tliat  of  the  Magaurans.  His  son  John,  "a  young  man  kind  and 
bountiful,  passed  away  in  1491  at  the  beginning  of  his  prosperity," 
and  John  son  of  Cathal  son  of  Owen  succeeded  and  invaded  the 
]\Iaguires.  Catherine  his  wife,  daughter  of  Hugh  Roe  Mac^Mahon, 
died  soon  after  his  accession,  and  tlie  next  year  the  bereaved  hus- 
band and  brother  sought  consolation  in  defeating  the  English  with 
considerable  slaughter.     John's  rule  and  life  closed  in  1510. 

In  west  BrefFny  or  Leitrim,  after  Tiernan  Oge  O'Rourke  head 
of  the  Hy-Brunes  died  in  1468,  Donnel  claimed  the  chieftainship 
as  next  in  rightful  succession,  but  Donough  Lose  was  inaugu- 
rated. In  1487  the  castle  of  Felim,  son  of  Donogh,  being  captured 
by  his  kinsmen,  O'Donnel  restored  it.  After  the  death  of  Felim 
Owen  son  of  Tiernan  succeeded.  In  Analy,  when  Donnel  Boy 
O'Farrel,  son  of  Ross,  son  of  Conor,  son  of  Cathal  died,  Irial  suc- 
ceeded.    Rury  son  of  Ross,  as  he  was  taking  possession  deceased  in 


228  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

1475,  and  Rmy  son  of  Cathal  ruled  to  1496.  Con,  lord  of  Clanna- 
boj,  son  of  Hugh  Boy  killed  in  1444,  died  at  Shane's  castle  or  Eden- 
duffcarrig  in  1^82.  His  son  Nial  Mor,  chief  after  him,  espoused 
Inneen  MacDonnel,  sister  of  Donald  Balloch,  whose  wife  bore 
the  same  relation  to  him.  It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  other 
lines  of  chieftains  in  Ulster,  MacSweenys,  O'Dohertys,  O'Kanes, 
O'Boyles,  Eannals  and  O'Hanlons,  and  also  the  Maginness,  head 
of  the  Rudricians,  but  they  were  not  so  prominent  or  as  frequently 
mentioned  and  they  are  reserved  for  notice  later. 

The  MacDonnels  had  already  become  by  their  possessions  in  the 
north-east  corner  of  the  island,  later  three  hundred  and  thirty-three 
thousand  acres  in  extent,  a  power  in  the  land.  John  Mor  of  Isla, 
grandson  of  king  Kobert  I. ,  Aarried  Margery  heiress  of  the  Bissets 
at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century.  That  family  in  the  person 
of  two  brothers  John  and  Walter  had  been  forced  to  quit  Scotland 
in  consequence  of  supposed  complicity  in  1242  with  the  murder  at 
Haddington,  after  a  tournament,  of  Patrick  Galloway,  the  popular 
earl  of  Athol.  It  was  said  they  set  fire  to  his  house  in  order  to 
conceal  their  crime.  They  purchased  large  tracts  of  territory  on 
the  shores  of  Antrim  from  Richard  de  Burg,  earl  of  Ulster, 
holding  among  other  estates  the  seven  lordships  of  the  Glinns.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  in  1316  they  took  a  leading  part  with 
the  Lacies  in  the  attempt  to  place  Edward  Bruce  on  the  Irish 
throne.  By  marriage  with  their  neighbors  they  maintained  their 
position,  Sabia  O'Neil,  mother  of  Margery,  being  especially  famous  in 
her  day  for  the  graces  and  sterling  qualities  befitting  a  noble  matron. 
«  It  was  in  1399  in  the  fifth  generation,  that  this  marriage  of.  Mar- 
gery, sole  daughter  of  the  house,  transferred  with  her  hand  its  large 
possessions  to  John  Mor,  who  in  1425  was  killed  with  the  connivance 
or  by  the  order  of  James  the  First.  Their  son  Donald  Balloch 
at  the  battle  of  Inverlochy  defeated  the  royal  forces.  Dwelling 
much  in  Ireland,  he  espoused  a  daughter  of  Con  O'Neil  of  Clana- 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN.  229 

boy,  who  when  du-ected  by  king  James  to  send  him  the  head  of 
Donald,  then  the  accepted  suitor  of  the  maiden,  sent  somebody's 
else.  Donald  died  in  1480,  and  his  son  John  and  Sabina,  daughter 
of  Felim  O'Xcil,  son  of  Nial  Mor,  were  parents  of  Sir  John  called 
Cahanagh,  from  his  fosterage  with  the  O'Kanes,  whose  wife  was 
Cecilia  Savage.  Betrayed  by  a  kinsman  at  the  instigation  of  the 
earl  of  Argyle,  in  whose  service  originated  "the  far  cry  to  Lochaw," 
he  was  executed  at  Edinburgh.  This  kinsman,  Maclan,  was  also 
employed  to  destroy  Alexander  son  of  Cahanagh,  but  his  daughter 
fascinating  his  intended  victim,  he  changed  his  purpose  and  their 
marriage  perpetuated  the  race,  Sorley  Boy  afterwards  famous  being 
the  youngest  of  their  six  sons.  Do\yn  to  the  death  of  James  IV. 
at  Flodden  in  1513,  Alexander  was  prohibited  from  visiting  or 
holding  a  rood  of  land  in  Scotland. 

Four  distinct  immigrations  of  the  Clandonnel  from  that  country 
or  its  islands  into  Antrim  in  the  fifteenth  century  established 
their  foothold  in  Ulster.  The  first  took  place  after  the  death  of 
John  Mor  in  1425  ;  the  second  after  the  battle  of  Inverlochy  in 
143 1 ;  the  third  after  the  formal  surrender  of  the  lordship  of  the  isles 
in  1476,  which  the  then  lord  his  son  and  grandson  forfeited  by  enter- 
ing into  covenants  to 'assist  King  Edward  in  the  subjugation  of  Scot- 
land ;  and  the  last  in  1493,  when  the  estates  still  left  to  their  family 
of  Isla  and  Cantire  in  that  king-dom  were  confiscated.  Durin"'  the 
next  century  they  took  an  active  part  in  the  wars  of  Ireland. 

To  historians  or  genealoo-ists  the  O'Conors  in  their  various 
branches  are  a  constant  perplexity.  Don,  Koe  and  Sligo  of  the 
Hy-Brunes,  Core  and  Kerry  derived  from  Eury,  of  OfFaly  from 
Cahir  Mor  recur  in  the  pages  of  Irish  history,  and  often  without 
any  mark  to  distinguish  one  from  another.*     The  four  first  men- 

*  The  double  x  seems  not  to  attach  with  uniformity  to  any  branch  of  the  name.  The 
Four  Masters  spell  all  alike  with  one.  O'Conors  Kerry  and  O'Conors  Core  are  spelt  in  the 
same  way  by  Cronelly.  The  present  representatives  of  Sligo  adopt  the  double  n,  which 
also  distinguishes  a  family  in  Kerry,  and  which  at  different  periods  the  O'Conors  Don  seem 
also  to  have  assumed. 


230  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

tioned  of  Connaught  were  too  restless  to  be  long  at  peace,  and 
multiplied  too  numerously  to  render  it  easy  to  follow  the  fortunes 
df  the  various  subordinate  branches  in  all  their  experiences.  With 
the  death  of  Cathal,  son  of  Rory,  in  1439  came  to  an  end  that  long 
dynasty  of  kings,  which  since  Eocha  in  the  second  century  of  our 
era  had  borne  sway  in  Connaught.  Turloghs,  Rodericks,  Conor, 
Dermots,  Hughs  followed  each  other  in  succession,  more  than 
fifty  from  the  coming  over  of  Strongbow  to  the  last,  but  in  no  very 
regular  order  of  succession,  the  strong  man  of  the  period  proving 
generally  the  successful  competitor  for  the  throne.  Occasionally 
the  actual  possessor  losing  popularity  was  deposed  and  perhaps 
again  restored,  creating  confusion,  and  baffling  any  attempt  even  to 
enumerate  this  long  line  of  monarchs,  many  of  whom  were  justly 
distinguished  for  character  and  ability. 

Upon  the  death  of  Cathal,  Hugh  Don  and  Teigue  Roe  claimed 
his  throne  as  tlie  rightful  O'Conor,  but  the  estates  of  the  royal 
branch  of  Roscommon  having  been  partitioned  between  their  two 
families  towards  the  close  of  the  preceding  century,  authority  fol- 
lowed this  subdivision,  and  for  a  time  the  respective  chiefs  were 
entitled  half  kings.  Owen  Don,  son  of  Felim,  was  succeeded  in 
1485  by  Hugh,  son  of  Hugh,  who  held  the  chieftaincy  for  two 
years,  and  upon  the  death  of  Turlogh  Oge  in  1503,  at,  Balintober, 
there  was  another  subdivision  of  territory.  That  castle  long  the 
abode  of  the  kings,  through  the  influence  of  the  neighboring  lord 
of  Hy-Many,  w^as  assigned  to  the  family  of  his  kinswoman  Graine 
an  Kelly  widow  of  one  of  them.  In  1487,  the  feverish  condition 
of  aiFairs  had  been  calmed  down  by  the  treaty  of  Sil  Murray,  and 
for  a  while  greater  tranquillity  prevailed.  The  year  after,  upon  the 
decease  of  Dodogh  Roe  of  that  branch,  at  an  advanced  age,  Felim 
Finn,  son  of  Teigue,  son  of  Turlogh  Roe,  brave  and  warlike,  who 
for  his  energy  and  talents  had  for  thirty  years  taken  a  leading  part 
in  affairs  and  been  expected  to  reunite  the  divided  kingdom,  sue- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  231 

ceedcd,  inaugurated  by  O'Donnel  and  Mac  William  of  INIayo, 
McDermot  according  to  ancient  custom  putting  on-  his  shoe. 
But  he  was  already  too  far  advanced  in  years  to  effect  any  such 
consummation  as  that  contemplated,  and  after  a  brief  reign  of  two 
3^ears  his  son  Rory,  "happy  in  peace  and  brave  in  war,  already  ven- 
erable," took  his  place,  to  make  way  in  1492  for  his  brother  Hugh, 
who  led  the  sept  at  Knoctow. 

In  Carbury,  Donnel  Sligo,  son  of  Murtogh,  son  of  Donnel,  in 
1464  fell  in  battle  with  the  sons  of  Owen,  and  thirty  years  later  his 
grandson  of  the  same  name  as  his  own,  valiant  and  vigorous,  Avhen 
his  fortunes  seemed  especially  prosperous,  perished  at  niglit  amidst 
the  flames  of  his  castle  of  Bunfin,  slain  by  John  and  Brian,  the 
sons  of  Rory,  who  succeeded  to  die  the  next  year.  Upon  his  de- 
cease contest  arose  amongst  the  several  branches  of  the  race, 
which  should  give  a  chief  to  Carbury;  but  Felim,  son  of  Maurice, 
son  of  Brian,  son  of  Donnel  prevailed.  Through  the  influence  of 
Tyrconnel,  who  claimed  sovereign  rights  over  Carbury,  the  castle 
of  Sligo  was  assigned  to  Calvagh  Ca^ch  son  of  the  murdered 
Donnel.  In  the  estimation  of  the  sept  this  was  contrary  to  es- 
tablished usage,  and  engendering  discontent  aflTorded  a  favorable 
opportunity  for  his  kinsmen  to  stir  up  strife.  In  1501  the  aged 
Calvagh  was  aroused  at  night  by  the  announcement  that  his  hostile 
kinsmen  were  clambering  over  his  battlement  walls  by  ladders  into 
the  castle,  and  in  making  such  defence  as  he  could,  he  fell  mortally 
wounded,  having  first  killed  John,  one  of  the  sons  of  Rory,  who  slew 
his  father  Donnel. 

Of  the  same  name  substantially  but  of  another  race,  from  their 
remote  possessions  along  the  western  shore  of  Connaught  less 
embroiled  in  its  incessant  turmoils,  but  engaged  in  many  of  their 
own,  Dermot  O'Connor  succeeding  Donnel,  son  of  Rury,  son  of 
Conor,  became  lord  of  Corcumroc  in  1482.  Their  neighbors  equally 
remote,    Loghlins    of    Burren,     Flaherty s,     O'Haras,     O'Garas, 


232  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

O'Dowds  and  O'jMalleys,  Birmingliams  of  Atlieniy,  and  Jordans 
Dexeter  of  Athleathan,  took  part  in  the  wars  of  the  period,  but 
were  less  powerful  and  less  frequently  mentioned,  and  little  can 
be  gleaned  from  the  annals  that  relates  to  them. 

The  hospitable  chief  of  Hy-Many,  William  son  of  Donogh,  who 
in  the  middle  of  the  previous  century  entertained  all  the  scholars  of 
the  land,  was  succeeded  after  a  protracted  life  by  his  son  Melaghlin 
of  like  estimable  character  and  who  survived  his  father  twenty 
years.  His  sons  Conor,  Teigue,  Donogh  and  Hugh  in  turn  held 
the  chieftainship,  and  William  another  when  he  died  in  1420  full 
of  prosperity  and  prowess  was  the  expectant  heir.     In  1462  Br§asil 

ft' 

son  of  Donoofh  and  Melaghlin  son  of  William  contestino;  the  sue- 
cession,  the  former  summoned  his  rival  to  meet  him  in  a  week  before 
a  higher  tribunal,  and  they  both  died  in  season  to  attend.  Hugh 
son  of  William,  also  preeminent  for  his  hospitalities  and  who  never 
turned  his  face  from  any  one  in  need,  shared  in  the  defeat  three 
years  later  given  by  Clanrickard  at  Crosmacrin,  and  in  1469  was 
treacherously  slain  by  descendants  of  his  uncle  Donogh.  Upon  his 
death  William  son  of  Hugh  son  of  Brian  and  Tiegue  the  blind,  son 
of  William,  strove  for  the  mastery.  The  latter  betook  himself  to 
the  cloister,  and  William  in  1487  taken  prisoner  by  his  kinsmen  per- 
ished in  his  chains. 

Such  numerous  competitors  for  the  chieftainship  naturally 
led  to  continual  strife  and  frequent  bloodshed.  The  coveted  sceptre 
wrenched  from  chiefs  more  energetic  to  get  than  prudent  to  hold, 
exposed  the  land  to  devastation  and  encroachment  by  neighboring 
powers.  As  the  century  ended,  Kildare  took  Athleague  from  the 
sons  of  William  who  were  banished  across  the  Suck,  and  gave  it  to 
Hugh  son  of  Brian,  at  the  same  time  that  he  transferred  the  castle 
of  Tulsk  from  Felim  to  Hugh  O'Conor,  taking  also  into  his  possession 
the  castles  of  Castlereagh  and  Roscommon.  The  Sil  Murray 
incensed  at  this  interference  drove  Hugh  O'Conor  across  the  Shannon. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  233 

Mac  William  came  to  ,tlic  defence  of  the  dispossessed  chieftains. 
He  restored  Athleaguc  to  the  sons  of  William  O'Kelly  and  delivered 
Conor  "second  lord"  of  Hy-]\Iany  a  prisoner  to  Melaghlin  son  of 
Teigiie,  son  of  Donogh,  son  of  Melaghlin,  son  of  William  the  hos- 
pitable, who  became  sole  chief.  To  protect  his  dominions  the 
new  lord  constructed  in  Gal  way  three  castles,  Gallagh,  Tarbelly  and 
Monivea.  These  Ulick  of  Clanrickard  demolished,  and  Melaghlin 
resorted  for  reparation  to  Kildare,  who  as  already  stated  entertain- 
ed resentments  of  his  own  against  his  son-in-law,  and  collected 
the  army  which  fought  the  battle  of  Knoctow.  Melaghlin  left,  as 
many  of  his  progenitors,  an  excellent  reputation  for  goodness  of  heart 
and  love  of  learning.  His  son  and  successor  Teigue,  who  survived 
him  two  years,  died  in  1513. 

Turlogh  of  Thomo'nd,  "worthy  sire  of  Brian  Boru  in  waging  war 
against  the  stranger,"  took,  at  the  close  of  the  century,  the  place  of 
his  brother  Gilla  on  the  throne,  and  there  for  nearly  thu'ty  years 
when  not  otherwise  occupied,  sat  administering  justice  and  dispens- 
ing hospitality  to  an  attached  and  loyal  people.  His  defeat  at  Knoc- 
tow, where  fell  his  chief  commander  Murrogh  of  Ara,  did  not 
dishearten  him.  We  find  him  engaged  immediately  after  in  the 
construction  of  his  famous  bridge  over  the  Shannon  at  Portcrush. 
This  master-piece  of  engineering  consisted  of  fourteen  arches,  and 
was  protected  at  either  end  by  towers  or  fortifications  of  hewn 
stone,  for  which  the  term  in  Gaelic  Kincora  or  bridge-head  is 
familiar  as  the  name  of  the  royal  residence  of  the  kings  of  Thomond. 
In  this  work  of  stupendous  magnitude  for  the  times  the  bishops  of 
Killaloe  and  Kilfenora  helped.  They  were  both  O'Briens.  The  great 
preferments  of  the  Irish  church  being  sustained  by  endowments 
from  princely  families  were  often  considered  as  their  private  inheri- 
tance, and  incumbents  were  elected  and  confirmed  with  due  regard 
to  this  consideration.     Relifjious  vows  interfered  but  little  with  the 

warlike  habits  of  their  race,  and  Terence  who  held  the  see  of  Kila- 
30 


234  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

loe  fortj-two  years  down  to  1525,  took  pjirt,  at  the  head  of  his 
retainers,  in  many  sanguinary  conflicts.  Maurice  of  Kilfenora, 
whose  remains  were  interred  in  that  Cathedral  in  1510,  had  like 
tastes.  Wlien  the  bridge  was  completed,  Turlogh  gathered  his 
clans  for  a  hosting,  and  marched  down  upon  Limerick,  which  he' 
took  and  burnt,  a  great  number  of  its  inhabitants  perishing  in  its 
defence  and  capture. 

Two  other  independent  branches  Of  the  O'Briens  flourished  at 
this  epoch.  In  1502,  Donogh  son  of  Brian,  son  of  Conor,  "foun- 
tain of  prosperity  and  affluence  for  all  Munster,"  lord  of  Pobble-o- 
brien  and  Carrigonel  and  other  lands  south  of  the  Shannon,  was 
gathered  to  his  fathers.  The  old  brehon  law  of  gavelkind  dis- 
tributing anew  the  territory  of  the  sept  among  the  family  fines, 
when  one  of  the  members  passed  away,  if  ^ver  existing  to  any 
great  extent,  had  fallen  into  neglect.  In  families  near  the  line  of 
succession  to  the  chieftainship,  and  more  or  less  generally  among 
the  clansmen  of  .degree,  the  custom  had  yielded  to  that  of  primo- 
geniture, modified  by  the  laws  of  tanistry,  as  they  existed  for  the 
chiefs.  It  was  their  first  duty  to  be  strong,  and  for  self-preservation 
it  became  indispensable  to  consolidate  in  them  the  family  property 
that  they  might  better  cope  with  the  English  lords,  whose  jDower 
of  aggression  and  disposition  to  use  it  grew  with  their  possessions. 
Donogh,  influenced  rather  by  parental  instincts  than  regard  for 
worldly  policy,  divided  his  own  territory  in  his  life  time  equally 
among  his  eleven  sons,  retaining  for  himself  for  what  remained  of 
his  existence,  his  castle  of  Carrigonel  and  its  demesne.  Before  the 
century  had  ended,  perhaps  in  consequence  of  this  distribution, 
the  castle  had  passed  to  an  English  name,  and  his  descendants 
fallen  into  impoverishment.  Mora  his  daughter  married  that  hard 
man  John  fourth  son  of  the  eighth  earl  of  Desmond,  and  they 
were  parents  of  James  the  fourteenth.  The  decease  of  Donnel 
Mor   Mac-i-brien-arra,    "a   distinguished   Captain,    kind  to  friend 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  235 

and  fierce  to  foe,  after  a  life  of  one  hundred  years  spent  in  noble 
and  illustrious  deeds,"  is  mentioned  by  the  annalists  as  occurring 
in  1508.  This  great  age,  not  uncommon  in  a  climate  so  salubrious 
for  the  strong  who  escaped  pestilence  and  war,  Avas  also  nearly 
reached  by  his  grandson  Turlogh  under  Elizabeth. 

After  the  murder  of  James  ninth  earl  of  Desmond  at  Rathkeale 
by  his  servants  at  the  instigation  of  his  younger  brother  John,'  Mau- 
rice, next  in  order  of  the  sons  of  the  beheaded  Thomas,  succeeded 
as  tenth  earl.  Called  from  his  lameness  Baccagh,  and  carried  to  the 
battle-field  in  a  horse  litter,  he  was  brave  and  warlike,  flourisliing  for 
a  third  of  a  century  in  gi'eat  prosperity  as  an  Irish  chieftain.  Often 
at  war  with  his  neighbors,  in  various  engagements,  from  which  he 
came  off  victorious,  fell  O'Carrol  of  Ely,  Teigue  McCarthy  Mor  at 
the  age  of  eighty-three,  and  Dermot  his  son,  as  also  Murrough  son  of 
Eory  Mc Sweeny.  The  earl  sided  with  Warbeck  and  with  twenty- 
four  hundred  men  besieged  Waterford,  but  making  submission 
received  from  the  king  a  grant  of  the  prisage  of  wines  in  several 
ports  of  Munster. 

Cormac  McCarthy,  son  of  Teigue,  who  was  born  in  1440  and 
became  after  his  ftither's  death  prince  of  Desmond,  had  for  wife 
Elinor  Fitzmaurice  daughter  of  Edmund  ninth  lord  of  Lixnaw 
by  ]\Iora  daughter  of  O'Conor  Kerry.  Cormac  of  Muskerry  who 
built  Blarney  and  Kilcrea  and  "  ordered  the  Sabbath  to  be  strictly 
observed  throughout  his  territory,"  was  slain  in  1495  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four  by  his  brother  Owen  of  Eathduane,  who  followed  him  in 
the  chieftainship.  Three  years  later  assailed  by  Fitzgerald,  after- 
. wards  twelfth  earl  of  Desmond  and  Cormac  McCarthy,  Owen  atoned 
for  his  crime,  falling  in  the  strife  with  his  two  sons,  Philip  son  of  Der- 
mot O'Sullivan  Beare  and  other  chieftains.  This  period  proved  espe- 
cially  fatal   to     his    name.       Donogh    Oge    lord    of    Duhallow,^ 

»  Son  of  Donogh  (113),  son  of  Cormac  (112),  son  of  Donogh  (111),  son  of  Dermot  (110) 
first  lord  of  Duhallow  and  eldest  son  of  Cormac  Fion  (109),  b.  1170,  king  of  Desmond  son 
of  Donal  Mor  NaCurragh  (108),  b  1138,  son  of  Dermod  Mor  (107),  b.  1098,  son  of  Cormac 
(106),  b,  10.54,  son  of  Murradach  (105),  b.  1011,  sou  of  Carthaigh  (104),  son  of  Justin  (103). 


236  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

Teigue  son  of  Donnel  Oge  of  Desmond,  Cormac  who  had  been 
tanist  of  Carbery,  Fineen  Reagh  with  his  wife  Catherine,  sister  of 
Desmond,  "a  truly  charitable  and  hospitable  woman  who  erected 
the  castles  of  Banduff  and  Dunmanway,"  and  Donnel  Mor  soil  of 
Teigue,  "  a  comely  and  affable  man  who  had  knowledge  of  the 
sciences,"  besides  eighteen  score  slain  in  family  feud  for  his  suc- 
cession, ended  their  days  in  this  decade. 

Mageoghans  of  Kinel  Fiachra  bravely  defended  their  possessions 
about  Moycashel,  and  the  death-bed  of  their  chiefs  was  for  the 
most  part  the  field  of  battle.  Not  invariably,  for  the  son  of  Hugh 
Boy  in  1478  was  murdered  in  his  sleep  in  his  castle  of  Leathratha 
by  two  of  his  sept  who  were  burnt  to  death  for  their  crime. 
James  died  in  1493,  and  his  brother  Laighneach  succeeded.  But 
the  power  which  in  the  previous  century  warranted  Farrel  Roe  in 
his  boast  that  he  had  given  peace  to  the  lord  lieutenant,  gradual  but 
steady  encroachment  on  the  part  of  his  neighbors  in  Westmeath 
had  greatly  circumscribed.  Cahir  O'Conor,  son  of  Con,  son  of'" 
Calvagh,  maintained  his  authority  nearly  forty  years  in  OfFaly. 
O'Carrols  of  Ely,  O'Moors  of  Leix,  cautiously  avoided  entangle- 
ments that  could  endanger  their  stability.  The  chiefs  of  Leinster 
received  tribute  money  and  kept  the  peace.  Donnel  MacMurrogh 
Reagh  son  of  Gerald  in  1476  made  way  for  Donogh,  son  of  Art, 
who  in  1488  slew  his  neighbor  Murphy,  lord  of  Hy-Felimy.  Ed- 
mund O'Toole  fell  in  battle  with  O'Byrnes.         ► 

This  is  a  dry  detail ;  but  serves  to  correct  the  impression  conveyed  by 
prejudiced  historians,  that  the  septs  were  incessantly  engaged  in  mutual 
slaughter.  It  serves  also  to  show  what  led  to  their  contentions  and 
what  was  the  general  result  of  them.  Sixty  independent  powers, 
with  no  tribunal  to  adjust  their  disputes,  always  armed  and  organ- 
ized in  order  to  repel  or  discourage  aggression,  often  had  occasion  to 
appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms.  Laws  lost  their  restraining  in- 
fluence.    Authority  uncontrolled  vested  in  chiefs  with  little  other  rule 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  237 

for  their  selection  than  popular  caprice  or  the  selfish  interests  of  their 
leading  subordinates.  Is  It  surprising  that  the  septs  for  the  most  part 
with  little  else  than  pastoral  pursuits  to  occupy  them  should  have 
been  occasionally  at  war?  Still  war  led  to  no  great  bloodshed. 
At  times  a  few  hundred  wi^rrlors  crossed  their  own  borders 
with  hostile  intent  against  their  neighbors,  but  after  slight 
skirmish  or  cattle  prey  went  home  content.  When  all  the 
strife  of  these  different  tribes  for  a  series  of  years  is  fnassed 
in  a  single  page,  it  suggests  the  prevalence  among  them  of  dis- 
positions savage  and  sanguinary.  But  b.attles  like  Knoctow  strew- 
ing the  field  with  carnage  rarely  occurred,  and  are  to  be  attri- 
buted to  the  angry  passions  of  English  lords.  The  Irish  were  natu- 
rally brave  and  warlike ;  their  fondness  for  companionship,  their 
spirit  of  adventure  rendered  war  a  pleasurable  excitement,  yet 
measured  by  the  standard  of  the  times,  combats  deserving  the  name 
were  not  more  frequent  or  bloody  than  in  other  lands. 

During  this  reign  Mulconry  ollav  of  SIl  Murray  "  head  of  the 
cheerfulness  and  joviality  of  the  island,"  another  of  the  name  teacher 
of  poetry,  and  yet  another  "bard  errant  of  Munster"  ;  Lorcan  ollav 
to  Madden,  Clery  to  O'Donnel,  Dulgenan  of  Maguire,  Mac  Namee  of 
O'Xeil,  two  HIggins  chief  preceptors  of  poetry,  Rodoghan  "whose 
goodness  could  not  be  well  surpassed,"  Keenan  a  learned  historian, 
are  recorded  when  they  died.  Charles  Maguire  "  a  learned  philoso- 
pher, deep  theologian  and  well  versed  in  history,"  as  also  O'Fihely 
archbishop  of  Tuam,  wrote  annals  of  Ireland  which  though  seen  in 
London  by  "Ware,  are  not  known  to  be  extant.  Con  O'Neil  founded 
a  convent  at  Dungannon,  O'Conor  Roe  one  at  Clonrahan.  Invert  in 
Antrim,  Rosrelly  in  Gal  way,  Kildonnel  founded  by  O'Donnel,  KIl- 
libegs  and  Fanegara  by  Mac  Sweeny s  in  Donegal,  date  also  from 
this  period.  Besides  war  there  were  other  calamities  to  inspire 
devotion,  pestilence  and  famine  destroying  man  and  beast. 

Henry  who  died  in  his  fifty-second  year,  in  April,  1509,  was  an 


238  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

able  but  not  an  amiable  king.  Empson  'and  Dudley  his  creatures, 
in  their  legal  iniquities  sparing  neither  class  nor  condition,  accumulated 
for  the  royal  coffers  nearly  two  millions  sterling ;  and  though  the 
dying  monarch  in  his  will  ordered  restitution,  none  of  course  was 
made.  He  was  fond  of  diplomacy  and  engaged  largely  in  continen- 
tal intrigues.  A  mercenary  match  for  his  eldest  son  with  Catherine 
of  Aragon,  excellent  but  unattractive,  forced  to  save  her  dowry, 
when  Arthur  died,  upon  his  surviving  brother  Henry,  led  to  es- 
trangement, infidelity  and  divorce.  If  emancipating  England  from 
papal  supremacy,  the  reformation,  which  in  that  country  grew  out  of 
these  complications,  subjected  her  people  for  several  generations 
to  religious  despotism,  far  more  cruel  and  relentless  than  any  which 
they  thought  to  escape. 


xxvni. 

REIGN  OF  HENRY  VIII. — 1509—1547. 
This  young  monarch,  who  at  the  age  of  nineteen  ascended  the 
throne  without  competitor  to  dispute  his  pretensions,  derived  from 
nature  a  vigorous  constitution  and  noble  presence.  His  manners 
were  gracious  and  affable,  his  mental  endowments  above  mediocrity. 
His  education  had  not  been  neglected  and  he  was  considered  the 
most  le^arned  prince  of  his  day.  His  career  opened  with  the  laudable 
ambition  of  proving  an  estimable  king,  and  he  selected  able  and  hon- 
est counsellors.  His  sway  was  nearly  absolute,  for  what  liberties 
his  people  had  enjoyed  under  his  predecessors  had  been  crushed  out 
by  arbitrary  measures  and  all  classes  intimidated  into  abject  sub- 
mission. The  great  nobles,  long  a  counterpoise  to  the  regal  power, 
had  melted  away  in  the  civil  wars,  and  their  substance  confiscated 
heaped  to  overflowing  the  royal  treasury  soon  to  be  drained  by  reck- 
less extravagance.     What  demoralized  the  king's  nature  as  it  blighted 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  239 

his  happiness,  was  his  ill  assorted  marriage,  for  Catherine  with  many 
admirable  traits  had  lost  the  attraction  of  youth  and  failed  to  gain 
his  affections.  Restless  and  discontented  without  curb  to  lawless 
passions,  he  plunged  into  excess.  Hi^  lusty  temperament  found 
occupation  for  a  time  in  "field  of  gold"  or  costly  tournament.  His 
love  of  pleasure,  of  pomp  and  pageant  soon  took  entire  possession  of 
his  soul,  and  what  little  self-control  he  ever  had  yielding  to  entice- 
ment, he  rapidly  degenerated  into  the  heartless  voluptuary  and  mer- 
ciless tyrant.  , 

It  was  long  before  he  paid  other  heed  to  Ireland  than  to  confirm 
Kildare  as  lord  justice.  Age  had  not  cooled  the  ardor  of  the  earl, 
who  notwithsanding  his  three-score  years  and  ten  was  incessantly  on 
the  move.  Attended  by  the  chiefs  of  Leinster,  English  as  well  as 
Irish,  he  led  an  army  into  ]\Iunster,  and  without  effectual  opposition 
erected  the  stronghold  of  Carrigkettle  in  Small  County  near  Limerick. 
O'Donnel  came  down  through  Meath  to  join  him,  and  they  together 
took  Kanturk  in  Duhallow,  Pallis  and  Castlemagne  from  MacCarthy 
More.  His  son-in-law  Donal-Reagh  McCarthy  of  Carbery,  Cormac 
Oge  of  Muskerry,  James,  son  of  Maurice  earl  of  Desmond,  and 
all  the  English  in  Munster  rallied  to  his  banners,  and  they  proceeded 
to  Limerick. 

Turlogh  Don  of  Thomond  with  MacNamara  and  Clanrickard  and 
another  James  of  Desmond  son  of  John  the  fourteenth  earl  mustered 
in  force  to  oppose  them.  The  hostile  hosts  encamped,  near  enough 
to  hear  each  other's  voices,  at  Portcrush  where  O'Brien  had  erected 
his  bridge,  which  Kildare  after  crossing  over,  destroyed.  In  the 
morning  the  earl  marshalled  his  forces,  the  men  of  Munster  in  the 
van,  with  the  Leinster  contingents  and  O'Donnel  in  the  rear,  intend- 
ing to  "  take  a  short  cut  to  Limerick,"  but  before  they  reached  the 
river  at  Monbraher,  O'Brien  attacked  them.  The  battle  lasted  till 
ni^ht  and  was  bravely  contested.  The  earl  encumbered  with  spoil 
sustained  heavy  loss,  barons  Kent  and  Barn  wall  and  other  person- 


240  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

a2:es  of  condition  beinsj  amongi;  the  slain.  The  defeat  would  have 
been  even  more  complete  and  disastrous,  had  not  O'Donnel,  who 
gained  great  glory  that  day,  extricated  the  army  from  its  perilous 
position.  It  effected  its  retreat  with  difficulty,  leaving  the  prey 
gathered  in  Munster  to  their  enemies. 

O'Donnel,  soon  after  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  stopped  on  his  way 
sixteen  weeks  in  Londonj,and  as  long  upon  his  return,  received  on 
both  occasions  with  marked  attention  by  the  king.  His  son  Manus, 
left  in  charge  of  Tyrconnel ,  imprudently  exchanging  Art  O'Neil  son 
of  Con  his  hostage  for  Art's  son  Nial  Oge,  Con  the  next  year  inva- 
ded Tyrconnel  but  was  driven  out.  O'Donnor  went  into  Connaught 
and  forced  the  Burkes  to  peace,  and  then  into  Tyrone,  taking 
Omagh  in  pledge  of  submission.  After  an  unsuccessful  attack 
upon  Sligo  he  passed  three  months  in  Scotland  courteously  en- 
tertained by  James  IV. ,  whom  it  is  said  he  dissuaded  from  a  project 
of  invading  Ireland. 

Kildare  meanwhile  as  ever  indefatigable  took  Belfjist,  devastated 
the  Glyns  and  on  a  second  expedition  harried  as  far  as  Carrickfergus. 
Learning  that  the  O'Briens  threatened  disturbances  in  Munster,  he 
marched  to  Killarney,  reduced  Pallis  and  thence  proceeded  into  Ely 
to  Leap.  This  fortress  proved  too  strong  for  him  and  he  raised  the 
siege  to  procure  heavier  ordinance.  On  his  way  back,  wounded  by 
an  O'Moore  of  Leix  near  Athy,  he  went  home  to  Kildare  to  die  in 
September,  1512.  His  remains  were  interred  in  St.  Mary's  chapel 
which  he  had  just  constructed  for  the  purpose  at  Dublin.  "We  have 
taken  occasion  earlier  to  portray  the  character  of  this  strong  earl,  who 
for  the  third  of  a  century  ruled  over  Ireland,  partly  by  force,  and  in  a 
larger  measure  by  his  sagacity,  with  great  prudence  and  success. 

Whilst  almost  exclusively  English  through  his  own  progenitors  he 
pursued  the  policy  of  his  house  in  strengthening  their  position  by 
alliances  with  Milesian  stock.  His  sister  Eleanor  had  married  Con 
Mor  O'Neil.     Of  his  own  fourteen  children,  seven  by  his  first  wife 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  241 

Alison  Eustace  and  seven  by  his  second  Elizabeth  St.  John, 
Eleanor  married  Donal  Mac  Carthy  Ileagh  and  afterwards  Tyrcon- 
nel,  ]\Iargaret  Piers  the  eighth  Ormond  whose  blood  was  largely 
compounded  of  Mac  Murroghs,  O'Carrols  and  O'Reillys.  Alice 
married  her  cousin  Con  Baccagh  first  earl  of  Tyrone,  Eustachia 
Ulick  first  earl  of  Clanrickard,  and  Oliver,  his  fourth  son  by  his  second 
wife,  Meva  daughter  of  Cahir  O'Conor  of  Offiily.  Granddaughters 
of  his  own  name,  childven  of  his  son  Gerald,  had  partners  for  life 
selected  for  them  later  in  Ferganaim  O'Carrol  of  Ely,  son  of 
Mulrony,  and  Brian  O'Conor  of  OfFaly. 

Both  of  these  names  are  familiar  to  our  readers,  but  the  latter 
has  been  most  frequently  mentioned.  The  O'Carrols  of  Ely,  de- 
scended from  Kian,  younger  son  of  Oliol  Olum,  and  head  of  the 
Kianacht,  as  his  posterity  were  called,  possessed  early  vast  tracts  of 
territory  in  the  northerly  portion  of  Munster.  Over  the  Ormonds, 
Hy -Regan,  Fircal,  Ikerren,  and  portions  of  Leix  their  sway 
extended  from  the  Nore  to  the  Barrow,  from  Kilkenny  to  Slieve 
Galy,  in  the  southeast  of  the  present  county  of  Queens.  They 
gave  many  archbishops  to  Cashel.  David  invested  in  1289  was 
followed  by  Maurice  in  1303,  who  six  years  later  took  an  active  part 
in  that  first  parliament  of  Kilkenny  which  passed  laws  to  prevent  con- 
solidation of  the  two  races.  He  denounced  from  his  altar  who  ever 
should  infringe  its  prohibitions  by  intermarriage  or  goss^red,  use 
the  language,  dress,  or  laws  of  the  Irish,  allow  them  to  pasture 
cattle  upon  their  lands,  or  advance  them  to  any  preferment  in 
the  church.  John  occupied  the  see  in  1327,  and  in  1365  Thomas 
was  translated  to  it  from  Tuam. 

Refinement,  culture   and  character  distinguished  both   men   and 

women  of  the  race.     Margaret  O'Carrol  wife  of  O'Conor  of  OfFaly 

will  be  remembered  for  Irer  munificent  entertainment  of  the  learned, 

and  also  Finola,  her  lovely  and  accomplished  daughter,  widow  of 

O'Donnel  and  of  O'Xeil  of  Clanaboy.     Her  cousin,  Mulrony,  lord  of 
31 


242  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Ely,  with  his  spouse  Bibania  O'Dempsy  of  Clanmahr,  founded 
Roscrea,  and  with  his  son  John  fought  at  Knoctow.  His  grand- 
son of  the  same  name  died  in  1532,  according  to  the  annahsts 
"the  most  distinguished  of  his  family  for  renown,  valor,  prosperity 
and  excellence,  to  whom  poets,  travellers,  ecclesiastics  and  literary 
men  were  most  thankful,  who  gave  most  entertainment  and  bestowed 
more  presents  than  any  other  who  lived  of  his  lineage  ;  the  sup- 
porting mainstay  of  all  persons,  the  rightful  victorious  rudder  of 
his  race,  the  powerful  young  warrior  in  the  march  of  tribes,  the 
active  triumphant  champion  of  Munster,  a  precious  stone  and  car- 
buncle, the  anvil  and  golden  pillar  of  the  Ely  an  s."  Tliis  very  re- 
markable personage  was  the  father  of  Ferganim,  who  before  1530 
married  Elizabeth  Fitzgerald. 

Ferganim,  although  not  entitled  by  the  accepted  rules  of  the  bre- 
hons,  succeeded  his  father,  but  the  following  year  old  and  blind  was 
slain  by  his  cousins,  leaving  two  sons,  Teague,  created  in  1551  baron 
of  Ely,  and  William  Ower  who  recovered  the  castle  of  Leap 
and  gained  a  victory  over  Mac-I-brian  Ara,  but  who  sustained  a  de- 
feat from  the  Englisli  at  Kincora  in  1558  and  again  two  years  later. 
His  rule  occasionally  contested  proved  generally  prosperous.  In 
1581  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  English  and  confined  in  Dublin 
Castle,  but  soon  released,  fell  in  fight  with  the  O'Conors  of  Offaly 
his  implacfable  enemies.  Calvagh,  son  of  William,  was  knighted 
in  1585  and  attended  Perrot's  parliament,  which  confiscated  the 
Desmond  dominions,  but  met  the  natural  death  of  his  line  at  the 
hands  of  the  O'Meaghers  of  Ikerrin  in  1600.  A  younger  branch 
of  the  name  ruled  over  Ossory.  The  Flanagans  of  Oughter  Tir 
in  Tipperary  and  Cinel  Aiga  in  Ely  were  correlatives  and  sub- 
ordinate chiefs.  The  distinguished  position  held  in  American  his- 
tory by  the  O'Carrols  of  Maryland  will  explain  this  particular 
relation  of  their  origin  and  of  their  fortunes,  which  there  will  be 
further  occasion  to  notice  in  the  subsequent  centuries. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  '  243 

Other  descendants  of  Kildare  in  his  life  time  or  later  intermar- 
ried with  the  three  brandies  of  the  Mac  Carthies,  both  O'Sullivans 
Mor  and  Beare,  O'Meagher,  O'Callaghan,  O'Donovan  and  various 
families  of  the  Munster  Geraldines.  Had  this  powerful  house 
indulged  ambitious  aspirations  for  the  Irish  tlu'one,  when  nearly  all 
the  chiefs  had  thus  become  their  kinsfolk,  it  would  not  have  been 
difficult  to  accomplish.  Gerald  the  ninth  earl,  who  succeeded 
his  father  Gerald  the  eighth  also  as  lord  deputy,  the  handsomest  man 
of  his  time,  was  active,  brave  and  sensible,  but  not  the  equal  of  his 
father  in  political  wisdom.  His  enemies  were  many  and  influential. 
His,  sister's  husband,  the  eighth  Ormond,  who  succeeded  in  that 
earldom  a  distant  relative  in  1515,  proved  his  most  unscrupulous 
rival  striving  to  supplant  him,  and  in  this  was  aided  by  his  countess, 
the  clever  Margaret,  naturally  more  loyal  to  her  husband  than  to  her 
brother. 

This  ninth  Kildare,  if  not  as  politic  as  his  father,  had  like 
taste  for  war.  He  drove  O'Moore  to  his  forests,  stormed  Cavan, 
slew  the  chief  Hugh  O'Reilly  with  eighteen  of  his  followers,  and 
Shane  O'Toole  of  Imaly.  Joined  by  his  brother-in-law  Ormond 
and  James  son  of  Desmond,  he  invaded  Ely,  demolished  Leap  and 
reduced  Clonmel.  The  next  year,  1517,  he  sacked  Dundrum  in 
Lecale  capturing  Phelim  Macgennis,  and  burnt  Dun gannon,  wasting 
the  country  with  fire  and  sword.  Rewarded  by  the  king  for  his  ser- 
vices by  grant  of  the  customs  of  Strangford  and  Ardglas,  he  obtained 
license  in  1519  to  found  the  College  of  Maynooth.  Proceeding  later 
into  Delvin  at  the  request  of  the  iNIelaghlins  he  protected  tlrem  from 
the  O'Carrols,  who  had  plundered  Kincora. 

Tliese  expeditions,  often  without  provocation  as  without  notice 
and  with  superior  force,  were  often  attended  with  success  exaggerat- 
ed by  English  writers,  occasionally  with  disasters  to  their  armies 
about  which  nothing  is  said.  Crops  were  destroyed,  castles  and 
towns  put  to  the  flames,  young  and  old  indiscriminately  slaughtered, 


244  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

engendering  animosities,  only  waiting  opportunity  for  retaliation. 
It  was  a  worthless  policy  so  far  as  regarded  national  consolidation, 
and  it  was  supremely  unjust  and  wicked. 

Family  quarrels  stained  with  bloodshed  recur  with  equal  frequency 
and  from  like  motives  in  both  races.  The  royal  example  of  the 
Plant agenets  was  bettered  by  Barry s.  Butlers,  and  Fitzgeralds,  who 
slew  brothers  and  cousins  as  often  as  O'Connors  or  O'Neils. 
Ambition,  revenge,  jealousy,  unrestrained  by  law  and  unchas- 
tened  by  religious  obligation,  grew  to  vigorous  type.  Standards 
of  honor  and  integrity,  of  fidelity  to  engagements  or  respect  for 
right,  were  not  much  higher  among  the  chiefs  than  among  the  lords. 
Lust  for  land  or  consequence  was  a  controlling  force  sufficiently 
obvious,  but  others  more  easily  concealed  excited  suspicion  and  dis- 
trust. Kildare  occasionally  made  military  inroads  as  deputy  on  his 
friends  and  kinsfolk,  gaining  easy  victories  which  strengthened  his 
hold  on  royal  confidence.  War  itself  thus  often  proved  a  cheat. 
Sire  to  the  bough,  son  to  the  plough,  kept  broad  acres  in  the  same 
name  and  blood  for  generations  across  the  channel ;  if  not  work- 
ing always  exactly  in  the  same  way  In  Ireland,  the  rule  was  there 
understood  and  often  exemplified  by  the  same  results.  Members  of 
princely  families,  sons  or  brothers,  were  frequently  found  on  opposite 
sides,  and  whichever  prevailed,  the  family  domains  or  dominions 
were  not  forfeited,  but  simply  shifted  for  a  while,  eventually  follow- 
ing the  accustomed  course  of  succession. 

Hugh  Oge  of  Tirconnel,  restless  and  indefatigable,  his  warlike 
clans  al  impatient  of  repose,  kept  on  the  alert,  now  engaged  in 
reducing  Coleraine  or  Dunluce,  at  Enniskillen  subjecting  to  his 
allegiance  the  refractory  Maguires,  or  levying  tribute  in  Connaught. 
His  principal  antagonist  still  continued  to  be  the  lord  of  Tyrone, 
and  in  1514  after  their  two  armies  both  alike  strengthened  by 
mercenaries  had  long  lain  opposed,  by  divine  grace  and  the  advice 
of  their  chiefs  on  the  bridge  of  Ardstraw  they  became  friends  and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  245 

gossips.  Art  confirmed  the  charters,  and  his  son  Neal  Oge  detained 
as  hostage  being  released,  this  alHance  was  still  farther  cemented 
by  Manus  son  of  Hugh  espousing  Judith  sister  of  Art,  youngest 
child  of  Con  Mor,  then  at  the  age  of  twenty  in  her  bloom.  The 
effect  of  this  reconciliation  was  not  very  lasting,  for  two  ^ears  later 
hostilities  w^ere  recommenced  and  Manus  invaded  Tyrone.  ^ 

Hugh  still  chafed  under  the  loss  of  his  castle  of  Sligo,  which 
had  baffled  all  his  attempts,  when  aid  from  an  unexpected  quarter 
restored  it  to  his  possession.  Pilgrimages  at  that  period  afforded 
occupation  for  the  idle  and  devout,  and  a  French  knight  on  such 
quest  to  the  purgatory  of  St.  Patrick  in  Donegal,  received  hospitable 
entertainment  from  its  chief.  He  proposed  an  attack  upon  the 
castle  from  the  sea,  and  measures  being  concerted  between  them, 
upon  his  return  home  he  sent  a  vessel  of  war  armed  with  great 
guns  to  batter  down  its  walls,  whilst  O'Donnel  assailed  it  by  land. 
After  its  surrender  the  country  round  about  was  overrun  and  several 
strongholds  reduced.  At  this  time  war  broke  out  in  Munster. 
Maurice  the  warlike,  tenth  Desmond,  approached  the  close  of  his  life 
and  reiorn.  John  his  brother  and  fourth  son  of  Thomas  of  Droirhe- 
da,  at  whose  instigation  their  elder  brother  had  been  slain  at 
Rathkeale,  although  another  brother  Thomas  had  superior  claims 
from  seniority,  endeavored  by  intrigue  to  supplant  James  son  of 
Maurice  the  next  in  regular  succession.  His  wife  being  an  O'Brien 
that  family  supported  his  pretensions.  It  led  to  sanguinary 
engagements,  in  which  each  in  turn  came  off  victorious,  John  aided 
by  the  Butlers  taking  Limerick.  He  did  not  effect  his  object,  and 
died  a  monk  in  penance  twenty  years  later  just  before  the  earldom 
devolved  upon  his  son.  , 

Elated  with  his  success  in  the  field  and  relying  upon  his  popularity 
with  his  Irish  kinsfolk,  Kildare  indulged  an  overweening  confidence 
in  the  strength  of  his  position,  considering  himself  too  indispensable 
to    English   rule   to   be   disturbed.      His  independent  spirit  gave 


246  TEANSFEE     OF     EEIN. 

offence  where  prudence  dictated  conciliation,  and  liis  enemies  found 
credence  at  court  for  representations  that  his  course  was  exclusively 
governed  by  selfish  motives  for  his  own  aggrandizement.  It  was 
urged  against  him  that  content  with  maintaining  the  pale  within  its 
existing  limits,  he  made  no  effort  to  extend  it,  and  intimated  that  if 
he  were  removed  from  office  he  would  throw  off  his  allegiance.  His 
own  professions  of  fidelity  served  for  the  moment  to  render  abortive 
these  attempts  to  undermine  him.     But  his   frank  and   unguarded 

expressions  and  proceedings  equivocal  in  policy  or  open  to  misin- 

*     .  .  . 

terpretation  kept  alive  the  jealousy  of  the  government,  and  in  process 

of  time  supplied  his  rivals  with  opportunities  they  were  constantly 
seeking  to  weaken  his  hold  upon  the  king. 

Wolsey  was  in  the  ascendant.  He  loved  power  too  dearly 
himself  to  be  indulgent  to  the  deputy,  who  in  1519  was  summoned 
over  to  explain  his  audacities.  Kildare  obeyed,  leaving  his  kinsman 
Sir  Thomas  deputy  in  his  place,  writing  O'Carrol  "to  keep  quiet 
until  an  English  dej)uty  should  be  sent  over,  and  then  to  make  war 
upon  all  who  were  not  his  friends."  Effort  was  made  to  obtain  more 
positive  proof  of  this  letter,  but  without  success.  The  earl  attended 
themeetino;  of  the  monarchs  on  the  "field  of  the  cloth  of  gold"  with 
fitting  splendor  for  the  occasion,  and  becoming  the  accepted  suitor 
of  Elizabeth  Grey,  daughter  of  Dorset  and  cousin  of  the  king, 
married  her.  By  the  aid  of  her  influential  relations,  he  for  a  while 
Avas  enabled  to  set  at  defiance  the  machinations  of  his  enemies. 

The  earl  of  Surry,  son  of  the  hero  of  Flodden,  able  alike  in  field 
and  cabinet,  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant,  and  during  his  admin- 
istration, among  other  enactments,  exportation  of  wool  or  flocks 
was  prohibited.  He  had  brought  over  eleven  hundred  men  whom 
he  employed  against  the  irrepressible  O'Tooles  who  from  the  Wick- 
low  mountains  harried  the  pale.  Either  from  discontent  at  the 
removal  of  Kildare,  or  his  apparent  intent  to  molest  them,  the  septs 
laid  aside  their  private  quarrels  to  oppose  the  lord-lieutenant.     He 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  247 

found  the  task  he  had  undertaken  neither  easy  nor  pleasant.  With- 
out any  special  cause  or  provocation  he  demolished  the  castles  of 
O'^Ioore  and  laid  waste  his  dominions.  O'Carrol  did  not  obey  the 
injunctions  of  his  father-in-law,  for  he  kept  the  peace  and  was  not 
molested,  and  Surry  marched  into  Tyrone.  Art,  "intelligent, 
powerful,  noble,  scientific,  brave  and  majestic,"  son  of  Hugh  the 
tanist,  and  "  seldom  before  had  the  son  of  a  tanist  ruled  over  the 
Kinel  Owen,"  had  given  place  in  1514  to  Art  son  of  Con,  "a  dis- 
tinguished captain,  sensible  and  humane,"  followed  five  years  later 
by  his  brother  Con  Baccagh,  first  earl  of  Tyrone.  It  was  probably 
whilst  Con  was  in  preparation  to  signalize  his  accession  according 
to  usage  by  an  infoad  into  INIeath,  that  he  found  the  enemy  within 
his  gates.  Surry  did  not  like  his  work.  The  Irish  left  open  his 
path  to  harass  his  flanks.  He  wrote  home  that  it  was  only  by 
conquest  the  land  could  be  reduced  to  subjection  and  order,  and 
that,  if  possible,  which  he  seemed  to  doubt,  it  would  require  money 
and  time.  He  advised  conciliation  and  was  authorized  to  confer 
knighthood  on  the  chiefs,  and  the  king  sent  a  collar  of  gold  to 
O'Xeil. 

The  state  of  the  country  was  not  encouraging  to  English  aspira- 
tions. A  tract  of  the  period  entitled  "  Salus  Populi  "  by  Pandarus 
shows  what  it  in  reality  was.  Seven  hundred  and  forty  pounds 
were  paid  as  annual  tribute  to  Irish  chiefs.  The  king's  writ  was  re- 
spected over  little  more  than  half  of  Louth,  Meath,  Dublin,  Kildare 
and  Wexford,  and  this  chiefly  occupied  by  Irish  but  partially  under 
English  rule.  The  rest  of  the  island  belonged  to  degenerate  En- 
glish or  Irish  septs,  the' larger  portion  consisting  of  sixty  "  regions 
some  as  big  as  a  shire,  some  more,  some  less,  under  independent 
kings,  princes,  dukes  or  captains,  that  lived  by  the  sword  and  obey- 
ed no  temporal  power  but  only  him  that  was  strong."  In  Ulster, 
O'Xeils  of  Tyrone  and  Clanaboy,  O'Donnel  of  Tyrconel,  O'Cahan 
of  Coleraine,  Doherty  of  Inishowen,  Maguire  of  Fermanagh,  Ma- 


248  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

gennis  of  Upper  Iveagh  in  Down,  Hanlon  of  Armagh  and  Mac- 
Malion  of  Monaghan.  In  Leinster,  MacMurrogli  of  Hydrone  and 
Nolan  of  Carlow,  Murphy  in  Wexford,  Byrne  and  Toole  of  Wick- 
low,  Gilpatrick  in  Upper  Ossory,  Moores  of  Leix,  Dempsys  of 
Clanmelir,  Conor  of  Offaly,  Dunn  of  Oregan.  In  Munster,  Mac 
Carthies  Mor,  Reagh  and  Muskerry,  Donoghue  of  Killarney,  Sulli- 
van Beare,  Conor-Kerry,  Driscol  of  Corca-Laighe,  two  Mahonys  in 
Cork,  Briens  of  Thomond,  Kennedy  of  Lower  Ormond,  Carrol  of 
Ely,  Meagher  of  Ikerren,  MacMahons  of  Corca-vaskin,  O'Connor 
of  Corcumroe,  O'Loghlens  of  Burren,  O'Grady  of  Bunratty  in  Clare  ; 
Mac-I-brien-Ara,  Eegan  of  Owney,  Dwyer  of  Tipperary,  and 
O'Brien  of  Coonagh,  in  Limerick.  In  Connaught,  O'Conor  Roe 
and  MacDermot  in  Roscommon,  Kelly,  Madden,  Flaherty  in  Gal- 
way ;  Farrel,  of  Analy,  Reilly  and  Rourke  of  Breffny ;  Malley  of 
Mayo,  MacDonoghs  of  Tyreril  and  Corrain ;  O'Gara  of  Coolavin, 
O'Hara  of  Leney,  O'Dowd  of  Tireragh,  O'Conors  of  Carbury  in 
Sligo.     In  Meath,  Melaghlin,  Mageoghan  and  O'Molloy. 

The  degenerate  English  or  great  captains  that  followed  Irish  rule 
were  in  Munster :  the  earl  of  Desmond,  his  brothers  Thomas  and 
John  and  kinsman  Gerald  of  Decies,  the  knights  of  Kerry  and 
Glynn,  white  knight  and  other  Geraldines  ;  lords  Barry,  Roche, 
Courcy,  Cogan,  Barret,  Power  of  Waterford,  Burke  of  Limerick ; 
Pierce  claimins:  to  be  earl  of  Ormond,  and  all  the  Butlers  of  Kil- 
kenny  and  Fethard.  In  Connaught,  lords  Burke  of  Mayo  and 
Clanrickard,  Bermingham  of  Athenry,  Staunton  of  Clanmorris  and 
MacJordans,  descendants  of  Jordan  Dexeter  in  Mayo ;  Barrets  of 
Tyrawley.  In  Ulster,  Savages  of  Lecale  in  Down,  Fitz  Howlins  of 
Tuscard,  Bissets  of  Antrim.  In  Meath,  Dillons,  Daltons,  Tyrrels 
and  Delamares. 

All  the  English  folk  except  in  the  cities  and  walled  towns  were  of 
Irish  habit  and  condition.  There  were  other  lords  not  enumerated 
and  many  smaller  septs  making  war  or  peace  at  their  own  pleasure, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  249 

and  often  in  rebellion  ao'ainst  their  own  chieftains.  The  lar2;est 
sept  mustered  but  five  hundred  spears,  as  many.galloglasses  and  a 
thousand  kernes,  the  average  army  being  hardly  a  thousand  fighting 
men,  the  common  sort  not  being  counted.  Pandarus  attributes  the 
prevailing  disorder  to  the  lords  of  either  race,  and  advises  that  the 
yeomanry  should  be  better  a*rmed  and  drilled,  and  forts  erected  for 
their  protection.  He  says  that  "so  the  land  would  be  a  paradise, 
delicious  of  all  pleasaunce  ;  that  no  alien  or  stranger  great  or  small 
left  it  willingly  notwithstanding  its  disorder  if  he  had  the  means  to 
dwell  there  honestly,  and  that  much  greater  would  be  this  desire  if 
the  land  were  once  put  in  order."  In  the  summer  of  1521  Surry 
invaded  Offaly  and  took  after  some  days  delay  Monasteroris,  the 
castle  of  the  chief,  who  to  carry  the  war  away  from  his  own  domin- 
ions wasted  West  Meatli.  The  campaign  was  not  a  success  for  the 
viceroy,  and  his  lieutenant  Plunket  was  slain. 

The  year  before  Surry  came  over  Maurice  of  Desmond  died,  leav- 
ing the  earldom  to  his  son  James,  who  to  display  his  power  and 
prowess,  or  possibly  from  another  motive  which  prompted  such  ex- 
peditions, to  assert  his  claim  to  supremacy  in  Desmond,  invaded 
Muskerry  and  Carberry.  Cormac  Oge  and  Donnel  Reagh  rallied ' 
their  forces,  and  with  Thomas  of  Desmond,  uncle  of  James  and  his 
successor  as  twelfth  earl,  to  help  them,  at  Mourne  Abbey  in  Mus- 
kerry defeated  him.  His  loss  amounted  to  eighteen  banners  of 
galloglasses  and  twenty-four  of  horsemen,  together  nearly  two  thou- 
sand men.  The  lord-lieutenant,  whose  avowed  policy  was  to  appease 
animosities  between  English  lords  and  stir  up  strife  amongst  the  Irish, 
fostered  hostilities  in  Ulster,  whilst  he  adjusted  disputes  be- 
tween Ormond  and  Desmond.  He  visited  Munster  to  reconcile  the 
Geraldines,  but  was  forced  to  admit  in  giving  the  king  an  ac- 
count of  his  proceedings  that  he  found  Cormac  Oge  and  Donnel 
Reagh  "wise  men,  more  conformable  to  order  than  their  English 
neighbors."  At  the  close  of  1521  Surry,  without  means  and  strick- 
32 


250  TBANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

en  with  disease,  prajed  to  be  recalled,  and  carrying  home  what 
remained  of  his  eleven  hundred  men  and  consigning  the  government 
to  his  friend  Ormond,  left  for  duties  more  to  his  mind. 

The  new  deputy  invaded  Ely  adjoining  his  own  territory.  Torlogh 
O'Brien,  king  of  Thomond,  hastened  to  the  aid  of  O'Carrol,  be- 
tween whom  and  himself  still  remained  some  of  the  ancient  obli- 
gations of  dependence  and  protection.  A  drawn  battle  took  place 
at  Camus,  on  the  Suir  near  Cashel,  in  which  Torlogh's  son  was 
slain.  Kildare,  absent  at  the  north  engaged  in  destroying  Bel- 
fast and  laying  waste  twenty -four  miles  of  country,  came  back 
to  find  his  own  tenants  despoiled  by  Ormond  who  had  made  peace 
with  O'Carrol  the  better  to  effect  his  object.  Fitzpatrick  of 
Ossory  had  also  been  harassed  by  Ormond  and  sent  over  one  of 
his  followers  to  Henry  for  redress.  The  messenger  stopped  the 
king  on  his  way  to  his  devotions,  and  addressing  him  in  Latin 
gave  him  to  understand  from  his  master  that  if  the  king  did  not 
punish  Peter  the  red  for  these  aggressions  the  chief  would 
make  war  upon  himself.  The  haughty  monarch,  more  amused  than 
provoked,  took  in  good  part  the  defiance  of  the  chieftain,  .but  was 
neither  sufficiently  wise  nor  strong  to  interfere  with  effect. 

Ormond  used  his  official  powers  quite  as  exclusively  for  his  own 
private  objects  as  Kildare,  and  when  the  latter  returning  with  his 
other  brother-in-law  O'Neil  invaded  Offaly  and  Leix,  their  old  jeal- 
ousies resumed  their  wonted  rancor.  Robert  Talbot  on  his  way  to 
the  Christmas  festivities  at  Kilkenny  was  waylaid  and  slain  by  James 
brother  of  Kildare.  Complaints  home  bringing  over  commissioners 
to  investigate,  selected  by  Dorset,  they  reinstated  his  son-in-law,  and 
at  the  ceremonial  ending  in  a  sumptuous  entertainment  given  them  at 
St.  Thomas'  Abbey,  Con  O'Neil  bore  before  the  governor  the  sword 
of  state. 

Again  in  power,  Kildare  exerted  it  with  vigor  in  repressing  his 
restless  neighbors,  and  occasionally  exercised  his  authority  in  a  very 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  251 

summary  manner.  Maurice  Doran,  bishop  of  Laughlin,  of  ex- 
emplary life  and  conversation  and  an  eloquent  preacher,  had 
excited  the  ill-will  of  certain  ecclesiastics  in  his  diocese,  and  among 
them  of  Maurice  Cavanagh,  one  of  his  archdeacons.  They  murdered 
him  in  Glen  Reynold  in  1525,  much  to  the  horror  of  the  land.  The 
perpetrators  of  this  sacrilegious  act  being  apprehended,  by  order  of 
Kildare  were  carried  to  the  spot  where  the  crime  was  committed 
and  then  flayed  alive,  their  bowels  being  first  taken  out  and  burnt 
before  them.  So  say  the  annalists,  but  probably  the  culprits  ceased 
to  be  conscious  long  before  this  just  but  barbarous  penalty  was 
consummated. 

Desmond  as  lawless  and  ambitious  believing  the  conjuncture  pro- 
pitious for  throwing  off  a  yoke  which  fretted  his  haughty  temper,  held 
secret  correspondence  with  Francis  the  French  king,  proposing  to 
furnish  ten  thousand  men  in  case  of  invasion.  This  becomins:  known 
after  Pavia  to  Wolsey,  the  king  ordered  his  arrest,  which  the  deputy 
from  inability,  neglect  or  collusion  failing  to  effect,  he  was  summoned 
over  to  answer  for  his  disobedience  as  also  for  combining  with  Irish 
chiefs  to  waste  the  lands  of  the  Butlers  and  hana-in 2:  their  adherents. 
Rudely  questioned  by  the  cardinal  befo];e  the  council,  he  was  incar- 
cerated in  the  tower,  and  barely  escaped  execution,  on  which  Wolsey 
seemed  set,  by  interposition  of  Dorset  and  Surry,  now  duke  of  Norfolk, 
upon  whose  pledge  for  his  fidelity  he  was  set  free  in  1527.  His 
brother  James  left  as  deputy  had  been  replaced  by  Nugent  lord  of 
Delvin,  who  refusing  O'Connor  his  annual  tribute  was  captured  by 
that  chief  and  held  for  ransom.  James  Butler  afterwards  ninth  earl 
of  Ormond  visited  Delvin  in  prison,  but  the  conference  was  in  Gaelic 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  chief.  O'Connor  over-estimated  his  advan- 
tage in  having  the  representative  of  royalty  in  his  clutch.  To 
Delahide  who  brought  him  a  letter  from  the  king,  he  inquired  from 
what  king,  and  when  answered  from  the  king  of  England,  replied 
if  he  lived  a  year  he  trusted  there  should  be  no  more  name  of  king 


252  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

of  England  in  Ireland  than  of  king  of  Spain.  Unable  otherwise  to 
rescue  Delvin  the  council  eventually  yielded  to  the  demands  of 
O'Conor,  paying  him  the  arrears  of  his  tribute.  These  payments 
were  not  much  longer  continued,  and  a  few  years  later  it  was 
ordained  by  law  that  no  more  should  be  made. 

The  north  was  in  more  than  its  usual  ferment.  Con  Baccagh, 
the  new  lord  of  Tyrone,  in  the  full  vigor  of  maturity  when  he  at- 
tained the  chieftainship,  displayed  an  energy  of  will  and  spirit  of 
enterprise  giving  indication  of  a  busy  career..  But  his  neighbor 
Hugh  Duv  of  Tyrconnel,  as  active  and  more  domineering,  in  mihtary 
capacity  and  political  wisdom  stands  out  boldly  as  the  prominent 
character  of  the  period.  His  natural  endowments  had  been  improv- 
ed by  study  and  travel  into  many  lands ;  and  residence  at  Rome, 
London  and  Edinburgh,  opened  to  him  fields  of  experience, 
quickening  aspirations  which  alone  can  explain  much  that  other- 
wise would  appear  inconsistent  in  his  course.  His  incessant 
hostings  against  his  neighbors  of  Tyrone  and  Connaught  may  have 
been  partly  to  gratify  his  sense  of  power,  train  his  soldiers  or  find 
them  occupation,  perhaps  to  collect  his  tribute  money,  but  the  tradi- 
tional path  to  the  throne  of  Ireland  was  by  success  in  the  battle-field, 
by  compelling  its  other  princes  to  give  hostages  and  recognize 
supremacy,  and  realizing  Irish  independence  could  only  be  main- 
tained by  a  strong  central  government,  which  he  was  best  able  to 
establish,  this  would  seem  to  have  been  his  governing  policy. 

This  policy  depending  for  success  upon  intimidation  and  frequently 
discouraged,  he  pursued  as  occasion  allowed.  If  more  had  been 
transmitted  of  the  obstacles  which  he  had  to  encounter,  his  course 
might  be  better  understood.  His  sagacity  hardly  admitted  of  mis- 
take, his  persevering  temper  knew  no  fickleness  of  purpose.  If 
often  seeking  his  objects  by  tortuous  paths  the  times  and  not  want  of 
integrity  taught  him  to  dissemble.  In  1521  he  visited  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant at  Dublin,  making  merit  of  his  refusal  to  take  part  with  Con 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  253 

O'Neil,  whose  sister  was  wife  of  his  eldest  son  Manus,  in  invading 
the  pale.  Surry  seemingly  placed  more  reliance  upon  his  professions 
than  they  deserved,  for  soon  after  the  two  chiefs  being  reconciled 
were  ordered  to  cooperate  with  the  English  forces  in  subjugating 
their  refractory  neighbors.  Disputes,  real  or  pretended,  immediately 
led  to  demonstrations  of  hostility  between  them,  which  the  disgusted 
viceroy  was  forced  to  accept  for  explanation,  why  his  intended  foray 
could  not  come  off.  But  whilst  not  disposed  to  abet  English  gover- 
nors in  molesting  his  brother  chieftains,  Hugh  lost  no  opportunity 
himself  of  impressing  them  with  a  sense  of  his  power. 

The  chiefs  he  assailed,  not  appreciating  designs  which  if  patriotic 
menaced  their  autocracy,  instead  of  tamely  submitting  to  his  exactions, 
laid  aside  their  feuds  and  jealousies  and  leagued  together  to  oppose 
him.  In  1522  nearly  all  the  chiefs  of  the  north  and  west  formed 
such  a  combination  with  Con  O'Neil  at  its  head.  The  time  designat- 
ed for  their  rendezvous  was  Lady-day,  and  the  place  Tirhugh. 
Maguire,  Magennis,  MacMahon,  O'Reilly,  the  Scots  under  Alexan- 
der MacDonnel,  son  of  John  Calianagh,  the  Clan  Donnel  and  Mac- 
Sheehy  of  Meath  and  Leinster,  the  adherents  of  Kildare  from 
whose  house  came  Con's  mother  and  wife,  joined  the  clansmen  of 
Tyrone  ;  whilst  in  Conn  aught  gathered  another  army  led  by  Clan- 
rickard,  the  sons  of  Thomond,  the  bishop  of  Killaloe,  O'Carrol  and 
O'Kennedy,  O'Conors  Don  and  Eoe  and  MacDermot,  a  host  which 
had  it  been  united  and  well  led  would  have  proved  too  formidable 
even  forTyrconnel  to  withstand. 

O'Donnel  not  dismayed  summoned  his  chiefs,  O'Boyle,  O'Doherty, 
three  MacSweenys,  Fanad,Banagh  and  Tuad,  and  the  O'Gallaghers  ; 
and  took  post  in  a  mountain  defile  at  Portnatryod  by  which  Con  was 
expected  to  pass.  But  marching  by  Lough  Erne  and  Termon  Davog 
to  Ballyshannon,  he  reduced  that  castle,  Bundrowes  and  Belleck. 
O'Donnel  directing  his  son  Manus  to  invade  Tyrone,  pursued  O'Neil 
to  delbud   Tirhuoh.     Con,  learning;  what  havock  Manus  was  com- 


254  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

mitting  witliin  liis  own  borders,  hurried  home  and  encamped  at  Knoc- 
avoe.  Hugh  and  ]\Ianus,  joining  forces  at  Drumleen  near  Lifford, 
concluded  upon  immediate  attack  before  the  Connaught  army  could 
come  to  Con's  assistance.  Leaving  their  horses  they  approached  at 
night  silently,  till  they  reached  the  sentinels,  who  retreating,  the 
Kiuel  Konel  broke  their  ranks  to  gain  the  entrenchments  before  alarm 
could  be  given,  and  entered  them  simultaneously  with  the  fugitives. 
With  great  clamor  the  opposing  warriors  engaged  in  the  strife,  un- 
able in  the  darkness  to  discern  each  other's  faces.  They  fought  long 
and  bravely  on  both  sides,  but  the  assailants  finally  gaining  the  vic- 
tory, Con  and  his  allies  leaving  dead  behind  them  nine  hundred 
of  their  followers,  many  of  them  Scots,  made  good  their  retreat. 
It  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  battles  ever  fought  between  the  Kinel 
Konel  and  Kinel  Owen.  Horses,  arms  and  armor,  provisions  and 
wine,  cups  of  silver  and  pitchers  of  brass  with  much  else  of  value, 
fell  as  spoils  to  the  victors.  O'Donnel  not  permitting  his  men  to 
carry  home  their  plunder  as  they  wished,  proceeded  forthwith  in  pur- 
suit of  the  army  of  Connaught  then  engaged  in  the  siege  of  Sligo. 
When  they  heard  he  was  at  hand  and  of  his  victory  at  Knocavoe, 
they  sued  for  peace,  the  terms  to  be  left  to  Manus  and  O'Carrol ;  but 
without  waiting  the  return  of  their  messengers,  the  chiefs,  both  Mac- 
Williams,  O'Conors,  O'Briens,  Mac  Dermot,  O'Carrol  and  O'Kene- 
dy  raised  the  siege,  crossed  the  Curlew  mountains  and  went  home, 
this  bloodless  triumph  adding  fresh  laurels  to  the  glory  of  the  con- 
queror. 

The  next  spring  Hugh  Duv  remained  encamped  at  Glenfin,  and 
when  his  son  Manus  returned  from  a  visit  to  Scotland  they  together 
ravaged  Tyrone.  They  destroyed  an  herb  garden  of  note  and  much 
kine,  and  on  a  second  maraud  that  year,  O'Neil  making  peace,  they 
wasted  BrefFny  O'liourke.  The  sons  of  O'Donnel  partook  of  his 
impulsive  disposition.  Contention  between  Nial  Garv  and  Owen 
for  a  castle  led  to  a  combat  in  which  both  were  slain.     In  1524  Con 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  255 

with  his  hrother-in4avv  the  deputy  marched  into  Tyrconnel.  Hugh 
with  a  Lirge  force  of  his  chmsmen  and  kinsmen,  the  MacDonnels, 
hastened  to  meet  them  and  preparation  was  made  for  an  engagement 
on  the  morrow.  Manus  wished  to  repeat  the  night  attack  .of  Knoca- 
voe ;  but  his  father  objecting  as  Kildare  was  strongly  posted  and  had 
ordnance,  the  son  harassed  the  enemy  with  showers  of  arrows  so  that 
they  could  neither  slumber  nor  rest.  The  earl  finally  proposed  a  con- 
ference and  peace  was  made,  Kildare  and  O'Donnel  entering  into 
gossipred.  Returning,  Con  and  his  allies  found  Hugh  son  of  Nial, 
son  of  Con,  son  of  Hugh  Boy,  lord  of  Clanaboy  and  brother-in-law 
of  O'Donnel,  devastating  Tyrone.  Him  they  slew,  his  wife  Gorm- 
ley  dying  the  same  year. 

A  few  months  afterwards  the  two  chiefs  went  to  Dublin  to  con- 
firm their  covenants  of  amity.  Probably  neither  of  them  were  very 
I'easonable,  and  parting  more  embittered  than  before,  O'Donnel 
invaded  Tyrone.  That  autumn  more  amiable  they  agreed  to  abide  by 
the  arbitration  of  ]Manus  and  Kildare.  In  1526  they  visited  the  dep- 
uty to  adjust  their  differences,  but,  no  concession  possible,  after  angry 
altercation  Tyrone  was  again  invaded.  That  it  was  O'Donnel  who 
was  at  fault  and  unreasonably  exacting  may  be  inferred  from  the  con- 
federacy formed  at  this  time  against  him  in  Connavight  by  the  O'Conors 
and  MacDermot,  which  resulted  in  a  foray  into  Moylurg  and  their 
army  being  put  to  rout.  O'Donnel  could  be  just  for  others  if  not 
where  his  own  interests  were  concerned,  and  he  made  a  lasting  peace 
between  the  Burkes  and  Barrets.  He  strengthened  his  frontier, 
Manus  erecting  the  strong  castle  of  Lifford.  Each  of  the  three 
subsequent  years  Hugh  Duff  made  his  annual  hosting  into  Con- 
naught,  destroying  many  castles  in  Gal  way  and  Muinter  Eolais  of 
the  MacRannalls,  and  where  his  tribute  was  refused  taking  prey. 

As  he  began  to  show  symptoms  of  a  strong  man  failing,  Hugh  Boy 
contested  the  succession  to  the  chieftainship  with  Manus  by  gaining 
adherents  in  the  sept.     Their  father  called  in  Maguire  to  reconcile 


256  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

them,  but  it  only  led  to  further  strife  and  bloodshed.  The  next  year 
O'Donnel  and  Maguire  went  to  Skeffington,  then  deputy,  and 
coming  to  terms  of  agreement  the  three  invaded  Tyrone.  In  1537, 
on  a  hosting  by  Hugh  into  Connaught,  his  chief  O'Boyle  being  mis- 
taken at  night  for  an  enemy  by  another  detachment  of  his  army, 
was  slain,  after  heavy  loss  on  both  sides.  Grieved  at  this  untoward 
event,  for  O'Boyle  was  greatly  beloved,  Hugh  Duv  marched  on  to 
Finved. 

In  an  encounter  at  Doonierin  between  a  portion  of  his  cavalry  and 
the  O'Harts,  feudatories  of  O'Conor  Sligo,  and  also  mounted,  one 
of  the  principal  warriors  of  the  latter  force  fell.  O'Connor  had 
marshalled  the  men  of  Carbury  to  dispute  his  passage  over  the 
river  at  Fearsat,  but  not  sufficiently  strong,  Hugh  crossed  unopposed 
and  proceeding  along  the  strand  into  Tireragh  destroyed  corn  and 
villages,  capturing  the  wife  of  O'Dowde  daughter  of  Burke  with  all 
her  property.  He  swept  the  country  so  completely  of  its  kine  that 
two  beeves  sold  in  his  camp  for  a  groat.  Mac  Dermot  gathered  his 
sept  and  neighbors  to  stay  the  progress  of  the  Ulster  army,  and  a 
skirmish  took  place  in  which  Hugh  son  of  the  Moylurg  chieftain  was 
wounded.  The  hostingf  ended  without  rent  or  submission  from  low- 
er  Connaught,  an  unusual  occurrence  for  O'Donnel,  who  sad  at  heart 
went  home  to  die,  his  last  moments  embittered  by  the  contention  of 
his  sons  for  his  chieftainship. 

History  repeats  itself,  and  in  this  remote  corner  of  the  island 
much  variety  was  not  to  be  expected.  Not  that  the  progress  of 
events  was  dull  or  without  interest ;  they  were  peculiarly  stirring, 
heroic  and  picturesque.  Yet  in  the  experiences  and  characteristics 
of  its  chiefs  as  summed  up  in  their  obituaries  by  partial  annalists, 
the  uniformity  often  becomes  monotonous.  When  Hugh  Oge  in 
1537  realized  from  his  dimmed  sight  and  feebler  footsteps  that  he 
was  approaching  the  gates  of  judgment,  he  shuffled  off  his  harness 
and  assumed  the   cowl,    bemoaned  his  crimes  and  iniquities,   did 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  257 

penance  for  his  transgressions,  and  passing  through,  left  his  eartlily 
tabernacle  to  be  interred  with  such  honors  as  were  meet.  His  four 
score  years  had  proved  all  too  brief  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
self  appointed  mission,  the  regeneration  of  his  country  under  the 
dynasty  of  its  ancient  monarchs  in  his  own  person,  but  all  the  chiefs 
of  Connaught  of  both  races,  and  even  the  O'Kanes,  MacQuillans 
and  far-away  O'Neils  of  Clanaboy  had  paid  him  tribute,  and  four 
lords  of  T}Tone  by  charter  acknowledged  his  supremacy  over  Inis- 
howen,  Kinel  Moen  and  Fermanagh,  "so  that  he  had  quiet  and. 
peaceable  lordship  over  them,  and  commanded  their  risings  out. 
This  was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  never  was  victory  seen  with  his 
enemies,  never  did  he  retreat  one  foot  from  an  army,  great  or 
small.  He  was  the  represser  of  evil  deeds  and  evil  customs,  the 
destroyer  and  banisher  of  rebels  and  thieves,  an  enforcer  of  the 
laws  and  ordinances  after  the  justest  manner.  In  his  reign  both  sea 
and  land  were  productive.  He  established ^every  one  in  his  proper 
hereditary  possessions  that  no  one  might  bear  enmity  towards 
another.  He  did  not  suffer  the  power  of  the  English  to  come  into 
his  country,  and  formed  a  league  of  peace  and  friendship  with  the 
king  of  England,  when  he  found  that  the  Irish  would  not  yield 
superiority  to  any  one  among  themselves,  but  that  friends  and  blood 
relations  contended  against  each  other.  He  moreover  protected 
their  termon  lands  for  the  friars,  churches,  poets  and  oUavs." 

The  power  of  these  chiefs  of  Tirconnelis  easily  explained.  Their 
strength  consisted  of  clans  enured  to  war,  hardened  by  exposure  on 
sea  and  shore  in  a  rigorous  clime.  The  three  branches  of  Mac 
Sweeny  were  conspicuous  for  valor  and  military  talent,  and  scions 
of  their  heroic  stock  will  be  found  later,  constables  in  all  the  armies 
of  the  west.  In  1513  an  O'Malley  from  the  western  shore  of  Con- 
naught,  entering  the  harbor  of  Killybegs  with  three  ships  with  hos- 
tile intent,  the  youthful  Brian  Mac  Sweeny  rallying  from  round  about 

shepherds  and  farmers,  captured  two  of  the  vessels  and  slaughtered 
33 


258  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

sixty  of  their  company.  Three  years  later  warder  of  Bally  shannon, 
he  fell  in  its  defence  against  O'Neil.  Castles  constructed  in  part  of 
timber  decayed  ;  and  Rathmullan  on  Lough  Swilley  shaken  by  war 
and  age  mysteriously  dropped  into  a  heap.  It  was  replaced  by  an- 
other, which  with  the  abbey  attached  for  the  safety  and  instruction  of 
the  youthful  members  of  the  race,  still  forms  part  of  an  habitable 
dwelling.  Rory  Fanad,  "  rock  of  support  in  defence  of  his  lord  and 
country  and  bestower  of  jewels  and  wealth,"  was  succeeded  in  1518 
.by  Donnel  Oge,  whose  reign  continued  eleven  years.  In  1544, 
Turlogh  son  of  Rory,  "energetic,  fierce  and  vivacious,"  was  killed  in 
prison  by  Rory  Carragh  and  Daniel  Gorm,  sons  of  Donnel  Oge  when 
Rory  succeeded.  Nial  Mor  son  of  Owen,  lord  of  Banagh,  "of 
hardiest  hand  and  heroism,  of  boldest  heart  and  counsel,  best  at  with- 
holding and  attacking,  first  alike  in  feast  and  fray,  who  had  the  most 
numerous  and  vigorous  soldiers  and  who  had  forced  the  greater  num- 
ber of  perilous  passes," ^died  at  his  castle  of  Rahin  in  1524,  and  in 
1535  his  son  Maelmory  Mor  was  killed  at  its  gate  by  his  brother 
Nial.  This  fratricidal  act  was  avenged  twelve  years  afterwards  by 
his  son  Donnel  Oge  who  slew  Nial  in  his  prison  in  the  new  Badh 
bawn.  The  sons  of  Maelmory  son  of  Colla  had  been  driven  from 
their  habitations  for  some  such  deed  of  violence,  and  in  1542  en- 
listed by  O'Kanes  to  fight  their  battles  they  so  effectually  routed  the 
MacQuillans,  that  in  a  subsequent  campaign  the  chiefs  of  that  sept 
engaged  them  in  their  service.  This  gave  umbrage  to  their  clans- 
men, who  taking  the  clan  Sweeny  at  disadvantage  made  sad  havoc  of 
its  warriors. 

Gerald  O'Doherty,  chief  of  Inishowen,  died  in  1540  at  a  great 
age ;  and  the  next  year  Tuathal  O'Gallagher  another  of  the  most 
powerful  of  the  sub  chiefs  of  Tirconnel.  Conscientious  as  brave,  he 
never  killed  in  battle,  but  devoted  his  efforts  to  capturing  prisoners. 
When  a  youth  and  listening  to  a  sermon,  the  friar  inculcated  the  doc- 
trine that  to  obtain  eternal  life  one  must  not  shed  blood,  whereupon  he 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  259 

resolved  never  to  wound  his  enemies,  and  thus  kept  his  vow.  Brian 
O'Rourke  built  the  castle  of  Leitrim,  and  harried  Moylurg  where 
the  sons  of  Rory  were  contending  with  sons  of  Owen  for  the  rock 
of  Lough  Key.  Cuconnaught  of  Fermanagh,  "  renowned  for  skill  of 
hand  and  nobleness,"  Nial  O'Boyle  and  Felim  O'Coghlan  of  Delvin 
fell  in  family  feud.  These  flagrancies  speak  sadly  for  human 
nature  when  not  subjected  to  government,  and  where  family  proper- 
ty, instead  of  being  equally  divided  under  just  laws  impartially 
administered,  passed  by  English  rules  to  the  eldest  son,  or  by  Irish  to 
the  nearest  of  kin  strong  enough  to  take  and  hold. 

According  to  the  annals  of  Donegal,  besides  his  liegemen  in  Ul- 
ster, Hugh  Duv  claimed  supremacy  also  over  large  portions  of 
Conn  aught.  But  this  was  never  peaceably  conceded  by  the  chiefs, 
who  if  frequently  subdued  by  superior  force,  and  compelled  to  pay 
tribute  or  give  hostages,  never  long  submitted.  Their  whole  "rising 
out "  consisted  in  1515  of  about  six  hundred  horse,  eight  hundred  gal- 
loglasses  and  thirty-three  hundred  kerns.  Of  these  O'Conor  supplied 
one  hundred  and  twenty  horse  and  about  five  hundred  foot ;  Carbury, 
forty  horse  and  two  hundred  foot ;  O'Rourke,  forty  horse  and  four  hun- 
dredfoot ;  M'Rannals,  eight  horse  and  three  hundred  kerns  ;  O'ReOlys, 
sixty  horse  and  five  hundred  foot ;  Mac  Dermot,  forty  horse,  eighty 
galloglasses  and  two  hundred  kerns  :  but  these  numbers  represent 
but  a  small  part  of  what  gathered  to  their  armies  upon  great  emer- 
gencies. 


260  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


XXIX. 

REIGN  OF  HENRY  VIII. — 1509-1547.— (Continued). 

Piers  the  red,  earl  of  Ormond,  in  1527  resigned  that  title  in  favor 
of  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  grandson  of  his  predecessor,  taking  instead 
that  of  Ossory,  by  which  for  the  next  ten  years  he  is  known  in  his- 
tory. After  that  period,  upon  the  decease  of  Boleyn  without  male 
heirs,  the  ancient  title  of  his  family  was  restored  to  him.  As  he  was 
engaged  in  hostilities  with  Desmond  and  O'Brien,  and  no  immediate 
prospect  appeared  of  Delvin's  release,  eventually  effected  by  con- 
cession to  O'Conor  of  all  his  demands,  the  council  appointed 
Thomas  half  brother  of  Kildare  as  his  vice  deputy.  Norfolk, 
whose  advice  upon  administration  in  Ireland  was  valued  from  his  two 
years  experience  as  viceroy,  under  his  better  known  title  of  Surry, 
wrote  Wolsey,  "that  in  his  opinion  the  only  cause  of  the 
ruin  of  that  poor  land  was  the  malice  between  Kildare  and 
Ossory,"  and  later  that  the  latter  if  governor  would  be  diverted 
from  defence  of  his  own  possessions,  and  his  army  brought  into  the 
pale  would  prove  a  burden  upon  it.  He  advised  that  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  council  should  be  confirmed,  and  that  three  or  four 
hundred  men  under  able  captains  should  be  despatched  to  strengthen 
the  army,  or  else  money  to  hire  Irishmen  to  serve  as  soldiers,  or  keep 
quiet  and  prevent  others  passing  through  their  borders  to  hurt 
the  king's  subjects. 

Wolsey,  if  not  partial  to  Kildare,  as  a  statesman  allowed  no  per- 
sonal prejudice  to  influence  his  administration  and  advised  his  royal 
master  against  his  removal  lest  the  septs  in  resentment  should  over- 
run the  pale,  as  they  then  could  without  resistance,  and  destroy  the 
crops ;  that  whilst  encouraged  to  hope  for  his  return  they  would 
refrain  from  whatever  might  operate  to  his  disadvantage,  and  that 
continued  deputy  he  could  be  held  responsible  for  the  preservation  of 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  261 

peace.  The  king,  unwilling  to  oppose  his  ministers  and  yet  favor- 
ably disposed  towards  the  Butlers,  adopted  a  middle  course,  retaining 
Kildare  still  deputy  at  court,  and  sent  over  Ossory  as  his  represen- 
tative. This  apparent  distrust  and  preference  for  his  rival  rankled 
in  the  breast  of  Kildare,  who  despatched  his  daughter  Alice,  lady 
Slane,  to  stir  up  strife,  and  his  friends  forthwith  harried  Ossory. 
Could  these  marauds  have  been  traced  home  to  his  instigation  he  was 
too  powerful  to  punish,  and  what  was  then  done  in  secret  transpired 
afterwards.  In  June,  1529,  the  king  constituted  his  illegitimate  son 
Henry  Fitzroy  duke  of  Richmond  lord  lieutenant  and  Sir  William 
Skeffington  deputy,  with  whom  Ealdare  went  back  to  conduct  mili- 
tary operations.  James,  eleventh  Desmond,  who  had  two  years 
before  negotiated  Avith  the  emperor  Charles  V.  an  invasion  of 
Ireland,  was  now  dead,  and  his  uncle  Thomas  his  successor  at  the  age 
of  nearly  fourscore  was  better  disposed  to  be  loyal.  The  three  earls 
were  enjoined  to  lay  aside  their  mutual  animosities  and  cooperate  in 
the  general  defence,  but  it  was  not  many  months  before  Kildare 
and  Ossory  were  snarling  and  eager  for  the  fray, 

Skeffington  in  presenting  Kildare  to  the  citizens  upon  their  arri- 
val in  the  capital,  turned  hispopularity  to  account.  He  congratulated 
them  "  on  having  again  one  they  had  sore  longed  for  ;  who  after  many 
storms  by  him  sustained,  to  the  comfort  of  his  friends  and  confusion 
of  his  foes,  had  subdued  violence  with  patience,  injuries  with  suffer- 
ing and  malice  with  obedience ;  the  butcher,"  signifying  Wolsey, 
"  who  had  thirsted  for  his  blood,  being  now  an  outcast."  The  earl 
was  received  with  joyful  acclamations,  and  two  hundred  archers  from 
the  municipal  forces  were  placed  at  his  disposal  to  punish  the 
O'Tooles  who  had  taken  advantage  of  his  absence  to  plunder  his 
tenants.  With  the  deputy  he  brought  to  terms  the  O'Moores  and 
captured  O'Reilly.  O'Donnel  tendering  submission  they  drove 
the  Mac  Mahons  out  of  Monaghan  and  demolished  Kinard.  But 
O'Neil  having  mustered  his  forces  and  appearing  in  powerful  array, 
they  did  not  wait  to  be  possibly  defeated. 


262  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

In  this  general  hosting  against  Tyrone,  Ossory  had  taken  part,  and 
made  complaint  to  the  king  that  after  marching  one  hundred  and 
forty  miles  with  a  well  appointed  force  to  assist  the  deputy,  and 
abroad  foraging,  as  he  depended  upon  the  country  for  supplies, 
Kildare's  people  jjlundered  his  lodges  of  harness,  provisions  and 
money.  The  deputy  had  other  grievances  of  his  own  which  were 
duly  represented  ;  but  not  to  much  effect,  for  Kildare  proceeded  to 
court  and  removing  all  impressions  to  his  prejudice  returned  as  deputy. 
In  his  elation  he  was  not  very  prudent,  and  his  predecessor  having  in 
his  absence  without  any  special  provocation  demolished  Dungannon, 
the  chief  abode  of  his  kinsman  O'Neil,  he  treated  him  with  scant 
courtesy.  From  another  of  his  enemies  Allen,  archbishop  of  Dub- 
lin, he  took  the  seals,  thus  rendering  him  more  inveterate  as  an 
enemy,  and  bestowed  them  on  George  Cromar  primate  of  Armagh, 
in  whose  devotion  he  could  repose  implicit  confidence.  James 
Butler  son  of  Ossory,  afterwards  ninth  Ormond,  was  appointed 
treasurer,  but  upon  the  decease  of  Mulrony  this  year  in  Ely,  the 
deputy  sided  naturally  with  his  son-in-law,  the  Butlers  with  the  son 
of  John,  rival  aspirants  for  the  chieftainship,  and  in  the  warfare  which 
ensued  the  lands  of  Ossory  sustained  considerable  damage. 

After  reducing  Ballinduna,  Eglish  and  Killurin,  the  deputy 
laid  siege  to  Birr  which  he  forced  to  surrender,  but  not  before  his 
farther  military  operations  were  arrested  by  a  musket  shot  from  the 
castle,  which  penetrating  one  side  of  his  body  worked  itself  out  on 
the  other  by  the  following  spring.  He  did  not  take  it  very  kindly, 
nor  receive  courteously  the  efforts  of  an  attendant  to  console  him. 
It  is  also  said  to  have  exasperated  his  temper  and  thus  to  have  accele- 
rated his  downfall.  Whilst  crippled  with  his  w^ound,  O'Tooles  burnt 
out  three  of  his  brothers,  two  of  whom  escaped  in  feminine  attire, 
another  was  driven  out  of  Monaghan,  and  his  eldest  son  Thomas  sus- 
tained defeat  from  O'Reilly.  Con  Baccagh  with  another  brother, 
John    Fitzgerald,    committed    sad    havoc    in    Louth,    plundering 


i  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  263 

English  settlements  ;  and  Edmund  Oge  O'Byrne  carried  off  at  night 
prisoners  and  plunder  from  the  castle  of  Dublin,  creating  trepidation 
and  keeping  the  inhabitants  on  the  alert. 

Around  the  council  board  sat  too  many  enemies  of  Kildare,  secret 
or  avowed,  for  this  untoward  turn  in  his  affairs  to  pass  unim- 
proved. The  treasurer,  his  nephew  but  still  a  Butler,  arch- 
bishop Allen,  Avhora  he  had  displaced  as  chancellor,  and  several 
more  Avith  Avroags,  real  or  imaginary,  to  create  ill-will,  watched  his 
course  with  inimical  purpose.  They  despatched  their  secretary,  John 
Allen,  kinsman  of  the  archbishop,  and  who  was  also  afterward  chan- 
cellor, across  the  channel  to  represent  their  discontents  to  the  king. 
A  memorial,  signed  by  several  members  of  the  board,  intrusted  to 
Allen,  followed  by  others  more  or  less  official,  besides  private  cor- 
respondence of  great  variety  and  interest,  are  still  preserved  in  the 
public  archives. 

The  condition  of  the  country  at  this  period  and  that  immediately 
before  may  be  gathered  from  these  reports  home.  They  show  how 
little  four  centuries  of  spoliation,  tyranny  and  corruption  had  accom- 
plished for  alien  rule.  Neither  the  English  language  nor  its  dress  were 
used,  its  order  or  peace  established,  crimes  against  person  or  property 
punished,  or  the  laws  obeyed  beyond  twenty  miles  square,  and  even 
that  much  was  in  jeopardy.  This  mortifying  state  of  affairs  was 
attributed  in  great  measure  to  royalties  enjoyed  by  a  few  absolute 
lords,  Desmond  in  Kerry,  Cork,  Limerick  and  Waterford,  Ossory 
in  Kilkenny  and  Tipperary,  Shrewsbury's  agents  in  Wexford,  whose 
own  rule  was  partial  and  occasional  but  effectually  shut  out  that  of 
the  crown.  Carlow  which  had  then  come  to  Norfolk  was  a  desolate 
wilderness.  Blackmail  was  levied  by  the  chiefs  ;  tributes  paid  them 
by  government.  O'Byrne  carried  off  prisoners  from  the  castle, 
keeping  the  pale  in  constant  trepidation.  O'Brien,  over  his  new 
bridge  across  the  Shannon,  harried  Limerick  at  will.  Two  thousand 
Scots  from  the  isles  were  gaining  possession  of  Antrim  and  Coleraine. 


264  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Crown  lands  were  alienated,  and  the  revenues  thus  reduced  were 
utterly  inadequate  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  government.  The 
Irish  still  improved  their  opportunities  for  inroads,  but  the  opinion 
is  advanced  "that  if  justice  were  done  them  they  would  be  as  civil, 
wise,  polite  and  active  as  any  other  nation." 

Illegal  exactions  on  English  tenants  had  driven  them  from  their 
settlements.  Disaffected  Irishmen  replaced  the  once  well  con- 
ditioned yeomanry  that  tilled  the  ground  and  garrisoned  the  castles. 
Neglect  of  the  records,  frequent  changes  of  government,  were  other 
abuses  requiring  reform.  They  recommended  that  the  charge  of 
affairs  should  be  intrusted  to  English  viceroys,  the  colonists  be  or- 
ganized for  military  service  under  fixed  captains,  and  that  no 
English  lord  should  enter  into  covenant  or  league  with  Irish  chief 
except  by  permission  of  the  crown.  Tributes  and  erics  should  no 
longer  be  paid,  and  public  revenues  improvidently  given  away  should 
be  resumed.  Dethyke  the  priest  wrote  that  for  want  of  meat 
Dublin  fasted  five  days  in  the  week,  and  in  the  same  letter  states 
that  the  deputy  hath  conveyed  all  the  king's  ordnance  out  of  the 
castle  to  fortify  his  own  strongholds. 

Among  other  illustrations  of  the  disloyalty  of  the  Geraldines, 
against  whose  long  continued  supremacy  these  missiles  were  espe- 
cially aimed,  it  is  alleged  that  Sir  Gerald  Shaneson  stood  high  in 
the  confidence  of  Kildare,  and  was  employed  by  him  in  the  con- 
duct of  his  intrigues.  In  his  endeavor  to  work  to  his  purposes 
Thomas,  the  eldest  half  brother  of  the  earl,  to  take  part  against 
the  king,  he  urged  "that  if  his  father  had  not  crowned  Simnel, 
imprisoned  Garth,  hung  his  son,  resisted  Poynings  and  the  other 
deputies,  killed  them  of  Dublin  on  Oxmantown  Green,  and  suf- 
fered no  man  to  rule  but  himself,  the  king  would  not  have  made 
him  deputy  or  married  his  mother  to  him,  and  he  would  not 
have  had  a  foot  of  land,  where  now  he  could  spend  four  hundred 
marks  a  year." 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  265 

Summoned,  as  the  year  1533  came  to  a  close,  to  answer  these 
charges,  and  justify  his  administration  of  affairs,  Kildare  endeavored 
to  ward  off*  the  impending  blow  by  sending  over  his  countess, 
trusting  that  the  inlluence  of  her  family  at  court  might  once 
more  stand  him  in  stead.  But  his  danger  w^as  greater  than  he 
knew.  Surry  when  he  returned  from  his  vice-royalty  in  1522  had 
cautioned  the  king  against  him,  and  subsequent  events  had  not  changed 
his  opinion.  Cromwell  who  had  taken  the  place  of  Wolsey,  in  the 
royal  counsels,  in  this  instance  coincided  with  his  views.  Skcffington 
whom  Kildare  had  displeased  and  supplanted,  Ossory  his  here- 
ditary foe,  wuth  resentments  and  aspirations  of  his  own  to  prompt 
him,  and  who  was  connected  with  the  Bolepis,  -^ere  both  set  upon  his 
overthrow,  w^hilst  his  brother-in-law  the  marquis  of  Dorset  no  longer 
lived  to  befriend  him.  The  royal  temper  had  not  been  improved  by 
battle  with  the  pope,  parliament  was  feeble  and  obsequious,  the  people 
intimidated.  Absolute  power  vested  in  a  merciless  tyrant,  whose 
thirst  for  blood,  soon  to  be  slaked  in  that  of  Fisher  and  More,  was  not 
likely  to  be  scrupulous  in  dealing  with  his  refractory  satrap.  Kil- 
dare might  well  have  hesitated  to  place  himself  in  his  power.  Re- 
sistance was  still  possible.  It  is  said  he  intended  it.  Ossory 
wrote  Cromwell  that  it  was  thought  all  the  parchment  and  wax  in 
Eno-land  would  not  bring  Kildare  there  again,  and  this  of  course 
led  to  more  peremptory  orders  which  he  dared  not  disobey. 

Recognizing  the  gravity  of  the  crisis,  he  held  many  consultations 

with  his  brothers  and  principal  adherents,  and  recommending  his 

eldest  son  then  coming  of  age  to  their  care,  he  enjoined  it  upon 

him  to  be  governed  by  the  advice  of  the  Delahides,   Eustace  and 

his  uncle  James.      Directed  to  appoint  some  fitting  substitute  to  act 

during  his  absence,  he  called  his  council  of  state  to  meet  him  at 

Drogheda,  and  nominated  to  them  this  son  as  deputy  in  his  stead, 

explaining  the  reasons  which  governed    him  in  the  selection.     In 

February,    1534,   he   left  Ireland  never  more   to   return.      Upon 
34 


266  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

his  arrival  in  London  he  was  informed  of  the  charges  against  him 
and  committed  to  the  tower,  where  before  the  year  had  elapsed  his 
life  came  to  a  close. 

Ossory  hastened  to  court.  But  the  king  hesitated  to  commit  the 
government  at  this  critical  conjuncture  to  another  Anglo-Irish  noble 
against  the  advice  of  both  his  councils,  and  gave  the  appointment  of 
deputy  to  Skeffington.  Keports  of  the  incapacity  of  Silken  Thomas, 
as  the  young  Fitzgerald  was  called  from  the  splendid  suits,  fringed 
with  silk,  of  his  body  guard,  crowded  over  from  his  enemies. 
That  he  might  compromise  himself  beyond  retrieval, 'they  manu- 
ffictured  and  circulated  plausible  tales  of  his  father's  execution. 
Distracted  by  intelligence  not  at  once  corrected,  or  tormented  by 
filial  solicitude  lest  if  not  already  true  such  an  event  impended,  sure 
of  losing  his  office,  and  if  so,  at  the  mercy  of  his  foes,  likely  to  lose 
besides  both  life  and  land,  at  the  same  time  confident  of  sup- 
port from  nearly  all  the  septs,  from  Pettits,  Tyrrels,  Daltons 
and  all  the  Geraldines,  following  moreover  under  advice  of  De- 
lahide,  selected  by  his  father  as  his  guide,  the  traditional  policy  of 
his  family  to  make  themselves  indispensable  to  the  maintenance 
of  EnofHsh  rule,  he  summoned  the  council  to  meet  him  on  the  elev- 
enth  of  June,  at  the  abby  of  St.  Mary's  in  Dublin.  Traversing  the 
city  streets  at  the  head  of  seven  score  of  his  brilliant  guardsmen  with 
the  usual  following  on  foot,  he  entered  the  chamber  where  the  council 
were  assembled,  the  rest  pressing  in  for  his  protection.  After  brief 
explanation  he  divested  himself  of  his  robes  of  office  and  surrendered 
the  sword  of  state  to  the  primate  chancellor  Cromar,  his  friend  and 
his  father's,  who  with  many  tears  sought  to  change  his  purpose. 
Amidst  his  discourse,  an  Irish  bard  not  understanding  or  perhaps 
hearing  what  was  said,  struck  his  harp  and  commenced  to  chaun^ 
aloud  the  praises  of  the  youthful  Geraldine,  inciting  him  to  resent- 
ment and  resistance,  who  thereupon  left  the  hall  with  his  followers, 
and  remounting  they  rode  away. 


5* 

TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  267 

It  was  an  opportune  moment  for  the  movement.  Dublin  had  been 
nearly  depopulated  by  the  plague.  From  Wicklow,  tempted  by 
opportunity,  OTooles  rushed  down  upon  the  grain  fields  of  Fingal, 
upon  which  the  city  depended  for  food.  Upon  their  return  with 
spoil,  the  citizens  tried  feebly  to  intercept  them,  losing  eighty  men. 
Allen  and  Finglas  and  others  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  Geraldine  re- 
sentment retired  into  the  castle,  which  White  its  constable  prepared 
to  defend.  Fitzgerald  gathering  his  levies  defeated  the  forces  of 
the  pale,  and  entering  the  city  unopposed  imprisoned  whoever  refused 
oath  to  be  faithful.  Powerless  to  resist,  the  authorities,  after  consult- 
ing with  the  constable,  who  improved  the  occasion  to  strengthen  his 
garrison  and  replenish  his  magazines,  consented  that  Fitzgerald 
should  occupy  the  city,  in  order  to  reduce  the  castle. 

Allen  not  satisfied  of  his  safety  if  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  his  ene- 
mies, whom  he  was  conscious  how  much  he  had  injured,  embarked 
for  home,  but  the  vessel  grounding  near  Clontarf  he  took  refuge  at 
Howth.  Dragged  from  his  concealment  at  Artane,  a  village  near  by, 
and  brought  into  the  presence  of  Fitzgerald,  by  whose  side  sat  mount- 
ed his  uncles  Oliver  and  James,  he  implored  on  his  knees  for  life.  Re- 
membering that  the  imprisonment  of  the  earl  was  owing  to  the  in- 
trigues of  the  archbishop,  lord  Thomas  exclaimed,  "  away  with  the 
churl,"  which  interpreted  by  Terling  and  Wafer,  his  attendants,  as  an 
order  to  put  him  to  death,  they  despatched  him  with  their  skeines. 

Froude  cites  this  as  proof  of  Irish  barbarism,  but  if  Fitzgerald  is  to 
be  held  responsible,  he  had  hardly  a  trickle  of  Irish  blood  in  his  veins, 
the  mothers  of  his  line  beino;  Eno-lish,  as  was  also  his  own  educa- 
tion.  Judging  from  his  grandfather's  speech  to  Henry  VII.  respect 
for  bishops  formed  little  part  of  their  composition,  and  the  hierarchy 
of  the  period  were  noted  rather  for  corruption  and  intrigue  than  for 
sanctity.  This  event  proved  a  serious  prejudice  to  the  rebel  cause. 
Anathemas  excommunicating  all  present  were  fulminated  by  the 
ecclesiastics  of  the  see,  and  a  copy  sent  to  Kildare  in  the  tower  of 


268  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

London  is  said  to  have  accelerated  liis  dissolution.  He  had 
been  struck  with  palsy  when  he  heard  of  the  rebellion  of  his 
son.  Allen  was  slain  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  and  as  before 
five  months  w^ere  over  he  was  dead,  it  came  late.  In  1580  his 
coffin  with  his  name  inscribed  upon  the  lid  plate  was  discovered  in 
the  chapel  of  the  tow^er. 

Thus  closed  the  chequered  career  of  Gerald  Oge,  "most  illustrious 
of  either  race  in  Ireland  of  his  time,  for  not  only  had  his  name  and 
renown  spread  at  home,  but  his  fame  and  exalted  character  were 
heard  of  in  distant  lands."  More  than  twenty  years  he  had  held  the 
earldom,  nearly  as  long  administered  the  government.  The  control- 
ling principle  that  governed  him,  to  confirm  his  own  hold  on  power, 
saved  English  tule  from  extinction  as  the  septs  became  conscious  of 
their  strength,  and  alive  to  their  danger  sought  by  consolidation 
to  escape  it.  Of  abilities  above  mediocrity  the  situation  in  which 
he  was  placed  afforded  congenial  employment  for  both  his  physical  and 
intellectual  powers.  When  not  at  court  explaining  his  conduct  or 
counteracting  the  intrigues  of  his  rivals,  war,  and  diplomacy  occasion- 
ally indirect,  engrossed  his  attention,  and  sad  to  say  such  opportu- 
nities as  offered  for  ameliorating  the  condition  of  his  countrymen, 
were  not  always  improved.  If  his  popularity  with  cliiefs  and  septs 
grew  out  of  relations  already  understood,  their  I'espect  and  affection 
for  him  must  be  also  ascribed  to  his  excellent  personal  traits.  Had 
he  been  more  politic  or  less  imperious,  he  might  have  disarmed  or 
safely  defied  the  hatred  of  Os^ory,  the  resentment  of  the  displaced 
archbishop,  and  steering  his  bark  safely  through  troubled  waters, 
averted  the  tragic  downfal  of  his  house,  stood  high  in  its  annals  for 
military  talent  and  statesmanship. 

Negotiations  with  Scotland  and  Spain  before  the  rebellion  broke 
out  resulted  in  encouragement  of  aid,  and  Fitzgerald  sent  messengers 
to  Charles  V.  to  hasten  its  coming,  and  to  the  pope  to  extenuate  or 
excuse  the  death  of  Allen.     His  main  dependence  was  upon  his  own 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  269 

countrymen.  Hugli  Duv  stood  aloof,  but  his  son  Manus  joined  his 
brother-in-law  Con  O'Xeil  whose  promised  contingents  were  delayed 
by  a  competitor  for  his  throne.  Brian  O'Conor  of  OfFaly,  who 
bore  a  like  relation  to  Fitzgerald,  was  at  feud  with  his  brother 
Cahir.  Donogh  O'Brien  afterwards  second  earl  of  Thomond,  loyal 
to  Ossory,  whose  daughter  he  had  espoused,  crippled  the  efforts  of 
his  fatlier  Conor ;  and  in  INlunster  the  death  of  the  ancient  Thomas 
twelfth  earl  of  Desmond  while  his  grandson  and  lawful  successor 
was  in  London  a  page  to  the  king,  afforded  oppoi-tunity  to  John 
great  uncle  to  James  to  take  possession  of  land  and  rule. 

For  the  actual  conjuncture,  Skeffington  was  the  worst  possible 
choice.  Broken  in  health,  with  neither  taste  nor  aptitude  for  his 
task,  he  wasted  the  summer  in  dilatory  preparation,  not  even  reach- 
ing Ireland  till  towards  the  close  of  October.  Three  months  before, 
royal  missives  spurred  Ossory  to  muster  his  men,  and  in  August  his 
forces  took  the  field.  He  was  old  and  heavy,  but  his  untiring  energy, 
great  practical  sagacity,  knowledge  of  men,  and  of  the  places  and 
complications  with  which  he  had  to  deal,  rendered  him  more  than  a 
match  for  his  inexperienced  nephew.  He  spoiled  Carlow  and  Kil- 
dare.  Fitzgerald  with  part  of  his  army  left  the  siege  of  Dublin 
to  oppose  him,  taking  Tullo,  and  encamping  on  an  island  in  the 
Barrow,  strove  to  bring  him  to  an  engagement  at  disadvantage, 
but  Ossory,  wary  and  strongly  posted  easily  foiled  his  raana'U- 
vres.  After  five  such  efforts  on  successive  days  without  result, 
during  the  last  of  which  the  earl  pounced  upon  his  camp  and  carried 
off  much  spoil,  O'Xeil  announced  his  approach.  Possibly  to  gain 
time  to  effect  their  junction,  consolidate  their  forces  and  concert 
measures  of  cooperation,  the  Geraldine  proposed  to  divide  tlie  island 
wnth  the  earl,  who  replied  that  if  his  country  were  Avasted,  his  castles 
won  or  prostrate  and  himself  an  exile,  he  should  persevere  in  his 
duty  to  the  king.  Menaced  however  in  his  r.ear  by  Desmond,  he 
assented  to  a  truce,  and  soon  after  drawn  into  an  ambush  suffered  a 


270  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

defeat  from  the  enemy  reinforced  ;  his  son  James  subsequently  ninth 
earl  being  dangerously  wounded,  and  a  son  of  O'jNIoore  on  the  other 
side  losing  his  life. 

Meanwhile    the   sies^e    of  the   castle   went    on.      Three    falcons, 

.  .  .       .  .  * 

all  the  rebel  artillery,  proved  ineffective  against  its  massive  walls  and 

heavier  guns.  Threats  were  made,  not  probably  in  earnest,  to  pro- 
tect the  trenches  by  the  children  of  the  citizens.  This  provoked 
their  resentment,  and  encouraged  by  promises  of  speedy  succor, 
they  shut  the  gates,  imprisoning  all  the  Geraldines  they  could,  a 
few  effecting  their  escape  by  swimming  the  Liffey.  Fitzgerald 
alarmed  left  the  war  in  Kildare  to  his  allies  and  marched  on  Dub- 
lin. On  his  way  he  took  into  his  possession  as  hostages  many 
children  of  the  better  sort,  sent  out  of  town  to  avoid  the  dangers  of 
pestilence  and  war.  He  burnt  ships  in  the  haven,  cut  off  the  con- 
duits. His  efforts  to  regain  his  position  were  attended  with  little 
success.  His  troops  driven  out  of  Ship  street  and  assembled  in  large 
numbers  in  St.  Thomas's  court,  endeavored  to  cut  their  way  through 
the  houses  along  Thomas  street  to  the  new  gate,  which  they  set  on 
fire.  Many  of  them  had  been  compelled  to  take  arms.  Arrows  with- 
out point,  and  some  with  letters  attached  of  encouragement,  promises 
from  Ossory  of  his  speedy  march  to  their  rescue,  emboldened  the 
citizens,  who  spreading  a  report  that  the  expected  reinforcements 
had  arrived,  sallied  out  through  the  burning  gate.  They  put  to  rout 
the  beleaguering  force,  who  lost  many  men  and  all  their  artillery ; 
their  commander,  after  concealment  all  night  in  a  convent,  barely 
succeeded  in  reaching  his  camp. 

Fitzgerald,  discouraged  by  his  failure  and  at  the  arrival  of  the  fleet, 
and  disturbed  by  tidings  that  his  tenants  were  sore  bested  by  Ossory, 
proposed  to  raise  the  siege  upon  release  of  his  men,  delivery  in 
money  and  wares  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  artillery  and  am- 
munition, and  of  promised  intercession  with  the  king  for  the  pardon 
of  himself  and  his  confederates.     The  citizens  were  willing  to  ex- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  271 

change  his  men  for  their  children,  but  were  too  poor  to  give  him 
■what  he  asked,  and  tohl  him  that  wax  and  parchment  would  better 
answer  the  purpose  for  his  pardon  than  powder  and  guns.  When 
the  deputy  arrived  and  Brereton  and  Salisbury  landed,  a  truce  of 
six  weeks  had  however  been  agreed  upon,  the  authorities  promising 
to  petition  not  only  for  his  pardon  but  that  he  might  be  appointed 
deputy  for  life.  Fitzgerald  sought  without  result  to  prevent  the 
landing  of  the  troops.  lie  gained  an  advantage  at  Clontarf,  but  find- 
ing himself  outnumbered,  hastened  towards  Carlow  to  join  O'Conors 
and  O'Moores.  Ossory  with  vSt.  Loo  from  Waterford  had  taken  Knoc- 
graftbn,  and  after  waiting  in  vain  the  promised  junction  of  the 
deputy  at  Kilkee  contrived  to  detach  Mac  Morrogh  from  the  cause. 
The  deputy  started  the  middle  of  November,  and  encountering  the 
rebel  army  on  the  boi'ders  of  jNIeath,  he  regained  the  city  in  haste, 
after  a  week's  absence,  harassed  by  the  hostile  cavalry  on  his  march. 
At  the  bridge  of  Kilmainham,  where  they  were  particularly  trouble- 
some, he  contrived  to  dislodge  them  from  the  woods  by  his  artillery, 
both  himself  and  his  men  suffering  from  the  rain  which  was  pouring 
in  torrents  and  which  had  swollen  the  streams.  On  the  first  of  De- 
cember he  rode  with  Brereton  to  Waterford,  reducing  the  castle  of 
Kildare  on  their  way. 

The  rebel  chief,  after  burning  Trim  and  Dunboyne,  not  ftir  from 
the  capital,  proposed  a  truce  till  after  twelfth  night,  in  which  the 
deputy  studious  of  his  ease  gladly  acquiesced.  O'Moores,  O'Conors, 
O'Briens  and  O'Xeils  committed  occasional  maraiids  to  the  great 
distress  of  the  unarmed  inhabitants,  but  the  depth  of  winter  was 
devoted  to  rest  and  preparation.  Fitzgerald  now  tenth  earl  of  Kil- 
dare strengthened  his  castles  of  Maynooth,  Rathanagan,  Portlester, 
Lea,  Carlo w  and  Castle  Dermot.  Ossory  took  Athj  and  incited 
Clanrickard  to  keep  O'Kelly  engaged,  whilst  he  sowed  such  strife  in 
Munster  between  McCarthies  and  Geraldines  that  they  destroyed 
each  other. 


272  TRANSFER     OT     ERIN. 

The  war,  if  not  sanguinary  or  marked  by  any  engagements  of  con- 
sequence, fell  without  mercy  on  the  helpless  and  unarmed.  In 
February  the  garrisons  destroyed  thirty  or  forty  of  the  neighboring 
villa o-es.  A  few  weeks  later  the  deputy  invested  JV'Iaynooth,  chief 
abode  of  the  Kildares,  the  richest  under  the  crown  in  its  plenishing, 
and  supposed  impregnable,  but  Skeffington  by  well  planted  batteries 
silenced  the  guns  on  its  donjon  battlements,  and  affecting  a  breach 
in  its  lower  walls  the  besiegers  worked  their  way  into  the  court-yard, 
slaying  sixty  of  the  experienced  gunners  to  whom  its  defence  had 
been  committed.  Of  the  prisoners,  one  was  hung,  perhaps  Wafer, 
who  killed  the  archbishop,  or  Paris,  charged  with  betraying  the  for- 
tress ;  twenty-five  were  beheaded,  and  two  spared  who  sung  well  in 
the  choir.  As  the  unfortunate  proprietor  was  hastening  to  its  relief 
with  seven  thousand  men  collected  in  Connaught,  the  gloomy  tidings 
of  its  surrender  created  profound  discouragement.  Many  abandoned 
his  banners,  and  after  an  unsuccessful  skirmish  he  withdrew  with 
sixteen  personal  attendants  into  Clare.  He  still  indulged  the  hope 
of  succor  and  of  being  able  in  the  course  of  the  season  with  ten  thou- 
sand men  promised  him  by  the  emperor,  and  more  from  Scotland,  to 
take  the  field.  With  what  force  he  could  collect  he  hovered  about 
the  pale,  but  having  no  guns  and  but  ten  muskets  the  castles  proved 
a  formidable  impediment.  By  stratagem  he  enticed  their  garrisons 
to  sally  forth,  now  by  herds  of  cattle  temptingly  displayed  before  the 
walls  of  Rathanagan,  now  by  rumors  circulated  that  he  was  near  by 
with  a  small  force.  Ossory  not  idle  meanwhile  took  all  his  strong 
holds  but  Crom  and  Adare  and  gained  over  O'Moore. 

The  hold  which  the  house  of  Kildare  still  retained  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  people  gathered  other  armies.  In  consternation  at  the 
approach  of  O'Brien,  O'Kelly  and  O'Conor  Faly  to  the  pale,  Allen 
master  of  the  rolls,  and  Aylmer  chief  baron,  were  despatched  to 
England  for  assistance.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  1535,  a 
year  from  the* slaughter  of  the  archbishop,  Leonard  Gray,  sixth  son 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  273 

of  Dorset,  arrived  as  marshal  of  Ireland.  He  found  his  work  already- 
accomplished.  Rebellion,  if  not  yet  suppressed,  hud  nearly  died  out 
by  exhaustion,  the  torch  more  cruel  than  the  sword  having  left  little 
to  destroy.  Three-fourths  of  Kildare,  six  of  its  eight  baronies,  and 
Meath  lay  depopulated  and  waste. 

The  septs  accustomed  to  select  their  leaders  from  middle  life,  after 
a  while  lost  confidence  in  a  youth  who,  however  brave  and  intel- 
ligent, had  little  experience  in  war,  and  gained  no  battles.  Ossory 
also  their  kinsman,  knew  well  how  to  sap  their  allegiance  and  detach 
them  from  a  cause  which  they  knew  to  be  hopeless.  All  tlie  Ulster 
chiefs  except  Con  and  Manus,  O'Moores,  O'Carrols  and  McMor- 
roghs,  even  O'Byrnes  and  O'Tooles  in  turn  deserted,  and  when 
about  the  end  of  August,  O'Conor  was  forced  to  submit,  Kildare  called 
a  parley  and  yielded  liimself  up  to  Grey  upon  assurance  under  the 
most  solemn  sacraments  that  his  life  should  be  spared.  Carried  to 
London  by  the  marshal,  he  was  imprisoned  in  the  tower.  The  king 
was  embarrassed  for  a  time  by  the  pledge  given  at  his  surrender,  as 
is  frankly  acknowledged  in  the  royal  correspondence.  But  the 
machinations  of  his  enemies,  and  the  implacable  resentment  of  the 
six  kinsmen  of  the  murdered  archbishop,  whose  intrigues  had  ma- 
terially contributed  to  the  ruin  of  his  father,  finally  overcame  all 
scruples,  and  lord  Thomas  after  sixteen  months  confinement  left  his 
cell  for  the  scaffold. 

During  the  absence  of  the  marshal  on  this  errand,  Ossory  and  his 
son,  by  order  of  the  king,  proceeded  into  Munster  to  settle  the  dis- 
puted succession  to  the  earldom  of  Desmond.  Thomas  the  twelfth 
earl,  1454-1534,  had  recently  deceased.  His  widow  Catherine  Fitz- 
gerald of  Drominagh  was  that  "  old  countess  "  said  to  have  survived 
her  husband  seventy  years  and  then  to  have  had  her  life  shortened 
by  an  accident  at  the  age  of  seven-score.  The  son  of  his  first  wife 
Celia  MacCarthy,  sister  of  Cormac  Oge  ninth  lord  of  Muskerry, 

died  in  1520,  leaving  a  son,  James  Fitzmaurice,  who  educated  at  the 
35 


274  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

English  court  and  a  page  to  the  king,  had  recently  returned 
and  married  Mary  daughter  of  Cormac.  That  powerful  chieftain 
supported  him  in  his  rightful  pretensions  to  the  succession,  which 
was  disputed  by  his  great  uncle  John,  upon  the  pretence  of  some 
informality  in  the  marriage  of  his  father  Maurice  with  the  daughter 
of  the  white  knight.  Sir  John,  who  for  a  time  wielded  the  power 
of  the  house,  played  fast  and  loose  with  the  government,  but  was 
generally  by  them  considered  unreliable.  He  certainly  took  part 
with  the  league,  who  ostensibly  engaged  in  measures  in  the  interest 
of  Gerald,  were  maintaining  a  correspondence  with  France  and  the  em- 
peror, as  also  with  James  the  Fifth  of  Scotland,  two  thousand  of  whose 
subjects  had  settled  in  Antrim.  The  Butlers  took  Dun garvan,  occu- 
pied Youghal,  and  after  parley  with  Cormac  received  hospitable  enter- 
tainment from  the  authorities  of  Cork.  While  in  that  city  James  of 
Desmond  was  presented  to  them  by  his  father-in-law,  and  submitted 
his  claims  to  their  adjudication. 

Thither  also  came  the  lord  Barry  to  complain  of  another  son-in-law 
of  Cormac,  MacCarthy  Reagh  of  Carberry,  and  grandson  of  the  eighth 
Kildare,  for  depriving  him  of  his  possessions.  But  that  chieftain,  an- 
other Cormac,  in  a  spirit  unlike  that  of  his  kinsman  and  more  charac- 
teristic of  his  lineage,  English  as  well  as  Irish,  declined  any  inter- 
ference in  his  quarrels.  He  declared  he  would  "  hold  by  the 
sword  what  his  sword  had  won."  At  Limerick,  whither  the  army 
proceeded  by  Mallow  and  Kilmallock,  came  Sir  John  Desmond  in 
the  same  haughty  temper,  declining  any  controversy  with  "  the  boy," 
but  finally  consented  to  meet  Cormac  Oge  before  the  council  at 
Youghal.  Grey,  upon  his  return  in  October,  was  ordered  to  arrest 
the  five  uncles  of  Kildare,  three  of  whom  had  taken  but  little  part 
in  the  rebellion,  and  long  before  its  close  had  given  in  their  submis- 
sion. It  is  said  they  were  inveigled  by  the  marshal  into  his  power 
and  seized  at  a  banquet  to  which  they  had  been  invited.  Of  this 
want  of  good  faith  there  is  no  satisfactory  proof,  but  on  the  contrary 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  275 

evidence  to  render  it  hig'lily  improbable.  The  earl,  who  had  been 
dependent  upon  his  companions  in  the  tower  for  garments  to  cover 
his  nakedness,  was  executed  with  his  uncles  at  Tyburn,  the  third  of 
February,  1537. 

Grey  had  been  likewise  ordered  to  seize  upon  his  nephew  Gerald. 
By  his  second  wife  Elizabeth,  sister  of  the  marshal,  the  ninth  Kildare 
left  two  sons  Gerald  and  Edward,  and  three  daughters,  one  of 
whom  the  fair  Geraldine  was  the  admiration  of  the  unfortunate 
Surrey,  and  commemorated  by  him  in  his  well  known  sonnet. 
Gerald,  but  ten  years  old,  when,  by  his  brother's  execution,  he 
became  next  in  succession  to  the  earldom,  remained  for  a  year  in 
the  care  of  his  sister  Mary,  wife  of  O'Conor  of  OfFaly.  He  was 
subsequently  for  a  time  in  Carberry  with  his  aunt  Eleanor,  widow 
of  McCarthy  Reagh,  or  with  her  daughter  the  wife  of  Dermod 
O'Sullivan  Beare  at  Dunboy.  In  these  wild  regions,  and  Dermod 
with  impunity  had  just  punished  capitally  the  officers  of  an  English 
cruiser,  who  molested  a  Spanish  fisherman  off  his  coast,  the  boy 
could  not  be  reached  by  his  uncle,  however  much  disposed.  The 
importance  attached  to  his  safety  by  the  chiefs  from  the  eagerness  of 
the  king  to  obtain  possession  of  his  person,  made  him  of  consequence, 
and  to  his  subsequent  adventures  we  shall  have  occasion  to  allude. 

"When  Skeffiugton  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  1535,  lord 
Leonard  Grey  was  chosendeputy  by  the  council,  and  confirmed  by  the 
king.  Whilst  at  court  he  had  been  created  for  his  services  in  sup- 
pressing the  rebellion  viscount  Graney,  James  Butler,  the  life  of  whose 
father  was  drawing  to  a  close,  receiving  like  rank  as  viscount  Thurles. 
The  new  deputy,  if  stern  and  imperious,  possessed  abilities  of  a 
high  order,  and  sagacious  in  statesmanship,  both  his  civil  and  mili- 
tary experience  fitted  him  for  his  official  duties.  There  was  much 
in  the  condition  of  affairs  to  try  his  temper,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
bring  out  the  resources  of  his  character.  The  little  court  at  Dublin 
seethed  with  corruption.     Officials  of  low  aims   and  sordid  objects 


276  TEANSFEE     OF     EEIN. 

steeped  in  intrigue,  sought  their  own  aggrandizement,  striving  to  sup- 
plant their  rivals  by  subserviency  to  power,  and  by  crushing  down 
without  hesitation  whatever  blocked  their  path  that  was  weak. 

The  home  government  if  directed  by  abler  counsels  was  equally 
unscrupulous,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  public  opinion  or  com- 
punction of  conscience  yielded  itself  without  reserve  to  the 
domineering  temper  of  the  king.  If  during  the  earlier  period  of  his 
reign  only  two  instances  had  occurred  of  the  death  penalty  for  politi- 
cal offences,  he  was  entering  upon  a  period  when  neither  learning  nor 
sanctity,  youth  nor  sex  were  to  be  spared.  Fisher  and  More,  his 
queens,  their  relatives  and  paramours,  his  aged  kinswoman  Margaret 
of  Salisbury,  fell  victhns  in  turn  to  his  sanguinary  disposition.  The 
Geraldines  immured  in  the  tower  were  prej^aring  for  the  block.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  no  guilty  sense  of  having  betrayed  them  to  their  fate 
troubled  Grey  when  four  years  later  he  tasted  the  bitterness  of  death. 
When  we  study  the  course  of  events  during  his  administration  and 
realize  how  entirely  his  natural  wish  to  further  the  interests  of  his 
sister's  child  coincided  with  his  prevailing  policy,  it  seems  difficult  to 
doubt  that  the  restoration  of  Gerald  to  the  lands,  rank  and  power  of 
his  ancestors,  as  a  political  necessity  indispensable  to  the  preservation 
of  the  island  to  the  realm,  was  what  he  sought  to  bring  about,  and 
only  abandoned  or  deferred  when  he  found  that  Con  O'Neil  was  plot- 
ting independence  and  to  become  himself  sole  monarch  of  the  land. 

If  any  such  considerations  in  reality  affected  his  course,  plac- 
ing in  jeopardy  if  betrayed,  office  and  life  and  the  end  at  which  he 
aimed,  the  deputy  deserves  admiration  for  his  prudence  and  j)ersist- 
ency,  for  the  masterly  tact  with  which  he  pursued  his  object  yet 
avoided  its  perils.  It  was  disloyal  to  administer  the  government  in 
opposition  to  the  known  wishes  of  the  king  who  had  entrusted  it  to  his 
keeping,  and  to  use  jjower  delegated  for  another  purpose  to  further 
family  interests  was  not  to  be  palliated.  But  believing  that  under 
existing  circumstances  English  rule  would  be  strengthened  bv  re- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  277 

establishing  the  ascendancy  of  the  Leinster  Geraklincs,  and  tliat  the 
preservation  of  the  ishmd  to  the  crown  concerned  not  only  Henry  and 
liis  ministers,  but  the  nation  at  large  to  whom  he  was  also  responsible, 
he  hardly  deserved  the  headman's  axe  for  a  policy  which  redounded 
to  their  advantage.  No  selfish  or  personal  motives  sullied  his  career  ; 
and  with  an  empty  treasury  and  inadequate  forces,  by  his  sagacity  to 
conciliate  the  animosities  of  the  contending  septs,  and  pave  the  way 
for  their  consolidation  under  English  rule,  at  least  entitled  him  to 
gratitude  from  his  own  countrymen.  lie  had  able  men  to  contend 
with  and  many  discouragements,  but  he  proved  equal  to  his  task. 

His  first  parliament  convened  in  April,  1536,  manifested  unwonted 
loyalty,  passing  the  act  of  supremacy,  confirming  the  divorce  of 
Catharine  of  Aragon,  and  before  it  was  over,  the  deposition  of  Ann 
Boleyn  her  successor.  O'Neils  and  O'Conors  wei*e  never  at  rest, 
but  military  movements  were  delayed  for  want  of  funds  to  pay  the 
soldiers  who  were  mutinous  or  discontented.  Still  the  deputy  in 
June  proceeded  to  Dundalk  and  exacted  professions  and  pledges  of 
loyalty  from  Tyrone,  and  the  month  after  joined  the  Butlers  at  Kil- 
kenny where  James  Fitz  John  of  Desmond,  whose  father  had  just 
died,  promised  to  meet  them.  He  failed  to  appear,  but  there  gather- 
ed a  goodly  company,  O'Moore,  Gilpatrick,  McMorrogh,  O'Byrne 
and  O'Carrol,  with  some  of  the  English  lords  from  INIunster,  those 
of  Leinster  remaining  at  home  from  fear  of  incurring  the  resentment 
of  the  Geraldines,  in  the  event  of  their  regaining  power.  Not  meet- 
ing Desmond  at  Cashel  or  Limerick,  the  deputy  afterwards  took  the 
castle  of  Camgogunnel  and  gave  it  to  Donogh  O'Brien,  son-in-law 
of  Ossory,  from  whose  men  it  was  soon  retaken.  In  August,  led  by 
Donogh  by  secret  paths,  they  attacked  the  bridge  ten  miles  up  the 
Shannon  and  which  was  defended  at  either  end  by  a  strong  castle  of 
hewn  marble  some  distance  from  the  shore,  with  walls  twelve  feet 
thick.  The  connecting  arches  had  been  broken  down,  but  the  spaces 
were  filled  Avith  fagots,  over  which  the  troops  marched  to  the  assault. 
The  garrison  escaped  into  Clare  and  the  bridge  was  demolished. 


278  TRANSFEK     OF     ERIN. 

Returning  to  Limerick  they  again  took  the  castle  of  Carrigogunnel, 
putting  the  garrison  with  few  exceptions  to  the  sworcl,  but  the  army 
still  continuing  mutinous  further  operations  were  given  up.  The 
deputy  prorogued  the  parliament,  which  had  followed  his  march  and 
held  its  sessions  at  Cashel  and  Limerick,  to  January.  Their  bill  of 
attainder  asrainst  the  Geraldines  was  held  valid  notwithstandino;  the 
death  just  before  of  Richmond  the  lord  lieutenant,  and  upon  com- 
plaint that  absentees  left  their  estates  in  incompetent  keeping,  titles 
held  by  Norfolk,  Berkely,  Shrewsbury,  the  heirs  of  Ormond,  ab- 
bots of  Furness,  St.  Austin  at  Bristol,  priors  of  Christ  Church, 
Canterbury,  Llanthony  and  Cartinel,  of  the  abbots  of  Kenlesham, 
Oseney,  Bath  and  St.  Thomas  of  Dacres,  were  vested  in  the  crown. 
Notwithstanding  their  own  experiences  on  the  march  of  the  danger 
to  the  country  and  themselves  from  the  discontented  spirit  of  the  unpaid 
soldiers,  they  could  not  be  persuaded  to  grant  subsidies  of  the  twen- 
tieth of  temporal  and  ecclesiastical  revenues  or  to  resume  the  customs 
granted  away  by  the  crown. 

Although  O'Tooles,  O'Byrnes  and  Cavanaghs  had  been  long  peace- 
ably disposed,  in  1537  the  council  decided  to  expel  them  from  their 
possessions  between  Waterford  and  the  capital.  Before  attempting 
to  carry  out  this  project.  Grey  marched  into  OfFaly,  through  the 
countries  of  Mulmoy,  Melaghlins  and  Macgeoghans,  taking  the  castle 
of  Bracknel  and  extending  to  the  garrison  the  "  pardon  of  Maynooth," 
or  indiscriminate  slaughter.  He  also  destroyed  Dengen.  Caliir 
was  made  chief  in  place  of  Brian  who  withdrew  into  Ely.  In  July 
with  the  men  of  Leix  and  Ossory  the  deputy  reduced  O'Carrol  and 
O'Meagher  to  terms,  Brian  suing  for  peace  which  was  promised  if 
approved  by  the  king  who  was  secretly  advised  not  to  grant  it. 
Brian  soon  recovered  the  chieftainship,  and  when  in  November  the 
deputy  again  marched  to  Bracknel  and  followed  him  into  Regan  he 
kept  the  English  at  bay.  The  campaign  ended  without  other  result 
than  the  capture  of  Killeigh  and  Castle  Geashil  from  which  was  carried 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  279 

ofF  as  spoils  a  pair  of  organs  and  glass  enough  to  glaze  the  college 
and  castle  of  ^Nlaynooth.  In  February  the  O'Conors,  now  recon- 
ciled, made  their  peace  with  the  deputy  upon  favorable  terms. 

Commissioners  sent  over  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  affairs, 
held  a  conference  at  Clonmel  with  James  Fitz  John  of  Desmond, 
who  promised  future  obedience  to  the  king  as  also  to  help  secure  his 
kinsman  Gerald.  He  gave  his  son  as  hostage,  but  at  the  same  mo- 
ment secretly  corresponded  with  the  confederate  chiefs.  In  April, 
1538,  Grey  invaded  ]MacMahon,  and  after  hastening  to  Drogheda  then 
menaced  by  Con  O'Xeil  who  retreated,  marched  into  Cavan  and  re- 
ceived professions  of  amity  from  its  chieftain.  The  young  Gerald 
was  at  the  time  at  Kilbrittan  with  his  aunt  Eleanor.  To  strengthen 
his  position  she  now  consented  to  marry  Manus  chief  of  Tyrconnel, 
who  had  recently  lost  his  first  wife,  sister  of  Con  O'Neil,  her  cousin. 
They  were  escorted  by  her  son  MacCarthy  Reagh,  and  by  O'Brien 
and  Clanrickard  to  his  abode,  and  the  league  formed  to  re-establish 
Gerald  in  his  estates,  or  to  worry  the  English  till  this  was  accom- 
plished, soon  embraced  nearly  all  Ireland  except  the  Butlers.  The 
deputy  naturally  favored  what  would  promote  the  interests  of  his 
nephew,  and  now  that  events  were  ripening  for  some  demonstration 
in  his  behalf,  the  course  he  pursued  was  calculated  to  awaken  doubts 
as  to  his  loyalty. 

The  chiefs  whom  he  upheld  stood  staunch  for  Gerald  ;  their  com- 
petitors, when  any  there  were,  the  Butlers  befriended  ;  and  resent- 
ment found  frequent  vent  in  representations  home  to  his  disadvantage. 
In  June  he  was  entertained  at  the  abbey  of  Monasteroris  by  Brian 
O'Conor  and  wrested  from  the  rival  candidate  in  Ely  Birr  and  Mod- 
ren.  In  that  part  of  Ormond  ruled  by  O'Kcnnedy,  came  to  him  John 
of  Desmond  and  the  two  Burkes,  and  at  Limerick  both  clergy  and 
laity  took  the  oath  of  supremacy.  Castle  Clare  and  Bally  Connel 
surrendered.  A  quarrel  between  Conor  O'Brien  chief  of  Thomond 
who  died  the    next    year   and   his    brother  iSIorrogh  first    earl  of 


280  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

Thomond,  was  peaceably  adjusted  ;  but  another  fraught  with  fatal 
consequences,  in  relation  to  some  hostages  of  Mulryan,  with  Desmond, 
led  to  the  latter  drawing  up  his  men  to  attack  the  deputy,  when 
Sir  Thomas  Butler  interposed  and  persuaded  him  to  leave  the  camp. 
Ulick  Burke  entertained  Grey  at  Galway ;  O'Conor  Roe  visited 
him  in  Hy-lSIany.  Passing  through  the  territory  of  O'Madden 
across  the  Shannon  by  the  Mac  Coghlans  and  Mageoghans  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Maynooth,  which  he  reached  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July, 
1538. 

Henry  realizing  the  importance  of  a  good  understanding  between 
the  deputy  and  the  Butlers  at  a  time  when  the  Irish,  all  of  one  mind, 
were  becoming  dangerous,  ordered  them  to  lay  aside  their  enmities. 
This  was  more  than  even  the  king  could  enforce.  Piers  Roe  who 
the  year  before  had  resumed  his  earlier  title  of  Ormond,  and  James 
his  eldest  son  lord  Thurles,  were  more  ready  than  Grey  to  make  ad- 
vances though  they  insisted  upon  guarantees  of  safety  in  attending 
court.  When  the  council  remonstrated  with  the  deputy  for  not  re- 
ceiving these  advances  with  courtesy,  he  charged  Ormond  and  Thurles 
with  giving  help  to  the  enemy.  This  led  to  reflections  by  them  upon 
his  official  conduct,  and  their  several  recriminations  reduced  to  writ- 
ing and  sent  home  created  impressions  to  his  prejudice.  Rumors 
that  he  was  to  be  superseded  inclined  him  to  conciliation,  and  his 
troops  and  the  Butlers  united  in  humiliating  the  Cavanaghs.  The 
council  in  October  in  communicating  this  event  to  the  king  repre- 
sented the  island  as  more  tranquil  and  obedient  than  for  a  century. 
But  it  proved  a  false  appearance.  All  the  septs  were  leagued  togeth- 
er at  the  time,  ostensibly  to  restore  Gerald,  but  with  many  ulterior 
objects,  and  among  them  with  the  boldest  national  independence. 

Hopes  were  entertained  of  the  restoration  of  the  ancient  monarchy, 
and  that  O'Neil,  Gerald's  cousin,  would  ascend  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors  and  be  proclaimed  at  Tara.  This  combination  was  for- 
midable, and  if  held  together  might  well  have  led  to  independence  ; 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  281 

and  now  that  tlieKiklare  Geraldines  were  powerless,  Barrys  andFitz- 
gibbons  at  war,  English  rule  was  in  peril.  Ormond  and  the  lords 
of  the  pale  alone  stood  by  Grey,  who  himself  was  doubted,  for  one 
object  of  the  league  was  the  restoration  of  his  nephew. 

Whatever  his  own  inclination  to  further  the  interests  of  his  sister 
or  her  son,  there  is  no  evidence  or  probability  that  the  deputy  by 
overt  act  or  guilty  intent  swerved  from  fidelity  to  duty.  In  the  con- 
fidence of  all  parties  sufficiently  to  comprehend  their  designs,  it  was 
far  from  his  wish  that  the  hold  on  the  island  should  grow  weak.  At 
the  same  time  in  his  friendly  relations  with  the  chiefs  and  sense  of 
what  justice  demanded,  he  discountenanced  all  schemes  for  taking  ad- 
vantage of  their  peaceable  behavior.  To  extend  the  pale  in  Leinster 
by  expulsion  of  such  as  were  no  longer  strong  enough  for  resistance 
was  as  impolitic  as  wicked,  arousing  the  more  formidable  and  less 
immediately  menaced  to  combine  against  like  encroachment  later. 
They  were  wise  enough  to  perceive  that  the  first  opportunity  would 
be  improved  for  their  subjection,  and  the  league  formed  for  the  resto- 
ration of  Gerald  constituted  their  best  safeguard  against  molestation. 

What  was  discussed  in  the  council  or  embodied  in  state  docu- 
ments could  not  be  kept  secret,  and  projects  not  only  for  extirpating 
the  septs  of  Leinster,  but  for  occupying  in  force  all  the  towns 
and  strongholds  over  the  land,  were  freely  broached.  The  English 
reenforced  were  to  war  upon  the  septs  till  their  subjugation  was 
complete,  and  their  subsistence  consisting  of  corn  and  cattle  de- 
stroyed, they  should  cease  to  exist.  Such  atrocious  counsels  from 
distinguished  officials  taint  the  reports  of  the  period,  and  if  not 
approved  or  transpiring,  gave  color  enough  to  the  courses  actually 
adopted,  to  create  jealousy,  encourage  combination  and  justify  the 
prudence  of  timely  resistance.  Estimating  aright  the  strength  of 
the  people  united  for  security  against  farther  aggression,  the  consum- 
mate tact  of  the  deputy  knew  when  and  how  to  render  abortive 
projects  that  tended  toward  separation. 
86 


282  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

His  policy  if  resolute  was  nevertheless  generally  conciliatory.  Obe- 
dient to  his  instructions  he  moved  his  force  from  one  part  of  the  island 
to  another,  but  not  so  much  to  employ  it  as  to  inspire  respect  for  au- 
thority. Indeed  this  was  one  motive  for  the  military  expeditions  of 
the  period,  which  often  ended  without  bloodshed  or  even  maraud. 
Certainly  in  two  instances  recorded,  large  forces  on  either  side  were 
drawn  up  in  array,  and  treaties  such  as  that  of  Sil  Murray  between 
Burkes  and  O'Donnel  prevented  an  engagement.  The  recent  league 
produced  a  sense  of  common  interests,  which  appeased  the  old 
hereditary  feuds,  even  inspired  the  hope  that  the  septs  might  again 
consolidate  into  one  nationality.  Grey  from  his  relation  to  the  young 
Kildare  shared  in  the  general  good  fellowship,  a  popularity  to  cost 
him  his  life,  for  Ormond  Allen  andBrabazon  hated  him,  and  already 
were  contriving  his  recall. 

Winter  closed  upon  an  unwonted  spectacle  ;  hardly  a  ripple  disturb- 
ed the  profound  repose.  The  septs  were  at  peace  with  one  another, 
and  Henry  assured  by  his  council  that  no  previous  king  was  more 
loved  and  respected  or  better  obeyed.  Yet  there  were  circumstan- 
ces of  a  suspicious  character  ominous  of  the  coming  storm.  At  the 
south,  James  Fitzjohn,  still  angry  with  the  deputy  about  the  hostages, 
in  possession  of  the  Desmond  dominions,  and  of  the  estates  of  Kil- 
dare in  IMunster  which  had  been  forfeited  to  the  crown,  stood  fast 
by  the  league,  and  ingratiating  himself  Avith  his  neighbors  of  either 
race,  was  more  powerful  than  any  earl  of  his  house  within  mortal 
remembrance.  An  English  palace  was  a  poor  school  for  an  Irish 
earl,  and  the  pretensions  of  the  court  page,  though  the  rightful  heir, 
were  little  regarded  now  that  Cormac  Oge,  his  father-in-law,  no 
longer  lived  to  support  them. 

It  seemed  an  inconsistency  for  all  Ireland  to  combine  to  restore 
Gerald  to  the  earldom  of  Kildare,  and  to  manifest  such  indifference 
to  the  stronger  claim  of  James  Fitz-Maurice  to  that  of  Desmond. 
But  as  the  favorite  of  the  king  and  sure  to  carry  out  his  policy, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  283 

his  restoration  would  have  been  an  embarrassment.  Gerakl,  by  his 
personal  graces  and  amiable  character,  justified  the  affection  inspired 
both  by  his  misfortunes  and  by  the  injustice  that  deprived  him  of 
his  inheritance.  Chiefs  of  Ulster  and  Connauo;ht  thronGred  the  halls 
of  Tyrconnel,  over  which  Eleanor  presided.  Bards  sang  the  praises 
of  her  nephew  at  the  banquet.  The  chiefs  in  council  concerted 
measures  for  the  coming  campaign.  Selection  of  some  one  leader  and 
general  plan  of  operations  were  stumbling-blocks  witli  so  many 
opinions  and  rivalries  ;  but  a  rising  as  early  as  September,  when 
reinforcements  from  the  isles  and  main  land  of  Scotland  were  ex- 
pected, seems  to  have  been  determined  upon.  Desmond  and  O'Brien 
were  to  engage  the  Butlers  ;  the  O'Byrnes  and  O'Tooles  the  forces 
of  the  pale,  while  the  main  force  invaded  Meath.  The  chief  leaders 
at  the  north  were  Con  and  INIanus,  and  it  was  their  jealousy  which 
seems  to  have  defeated  the  enterprise.  Whatever  had  been  decided 
was  revealed  in  June  to  the  deputy  by  intercepted  messengers. 

In  April,  O'Neil  and  O'Donnel  had  promised  the  deputy  to  meet 
him  on  the  plains  of  Carric-Bradagh  and  bring  Gerald  with  them. 
They  probably  never  intended  to  keep  their  appointment,  and  in  his 
vexation  Grey  laid  waste  Tyrone.  Con  lay  beyond  reach  of  his 
resentment  behind  the  Broadwater,  where  sixty  years  later  Hugh, 
his  successor  in  the  earldom,  for  a  winter  held  at  bay  the  forces  that 
conquered  at  Kinsale.  Soon  after,  on  the  twenty-first  of  August,  the 
eighth  Ormond  died,  and  his  son  James  was  assailed  by  Desmond 
and  O'Brien.  This  formed  part  of  the  plan  arranged  by  the  confed- 
erate leaders,  which  was  somewhat  disconcerted  by  the  Scots  not 
appearing  as  agreed.  The  chiefs  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  had 
already  assembled  their  clans  ;  they  spoiled  Meath,  and  obtaining  rich 
booty  from  Ardee  and  Navan,  drew  up  their  troops  at  Tara  in 
grand  array.  But  returning  elate  they  were  attacked  unprepared  at 
Belahoe  by  the  deputy,  four  hundred  of  their  men  being  slain. 
Macginnis  taken  prisoner  was  subsequently  put  to  death.     It  is  evi- 


284  TRANSFER   OF    ERIN. 

dent  that  these  hostilities  were  premature.  Cowley  wrote  Crom- 
well "that  Clanaboy,  O'Rourke,  MacCoghlan,  Kane,  Maguire, 
Neil  Conelagh,  MacDermot  with  Scots  from  the  isles  and  main, 
and  many  more  Avere  to  have  joined  Con  and  Manus,  but  the  depu- 
ty by  discomfiting  the  northern  chiefs  had  prevented  their  junction." 

Still  in  doubt  as  to  what  impended,  Grey  in  October  gathered  his 
forces  at  Trim,  and  bringing  O'Reilly  to  terms,  entered  Lecale,  over- 
ran the  domains  of  the  Savage,  taking  eight  castles,  among  them  the 
strong  fortress  of  Dundrum.  He  is  said  in  this  expedition  to  have 
burnt  the  cathedral  of  Down  and  demolished  the  monuments  of  St. 
Patrick,  Bridget  andColumbcille,  but  he  stood  fast  by  the  faith  of  his 
fathers,  and  heard  several  masses  the  same  day  before  the  statue  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  at  Trim,  which  was  soon  after  destroyed  by  order  of 
Browne,  who  succeeded  Allen  as  archbishop  of  Dublin.  He  hastened 
early  in  November  to  join  the  new  Ormond,  now  assailed  in  greater 
force  by  Desmond  and  O'Brien,  and  determining  "  to  pluck  from  the 
latter  all  his  forces  and  wings  east  and  south  of  the  Shannon," 
they  took  Roscrea  from  the  O'Meaghers  ;  Modren  from  the  O'Car- 
rol  who  killed  Ferganim.  Mac-i-brien-ara,  Mulryan  of  Owney, 
O'Dwyer  of  Kilnamanna  promised  allegiance  and  to  pay  tribute. 

At  Thurles,  Gerald  MacShane  and  the  white  knight  joined  them, 
and  at  Youghal,  whither  they  proceeded  by  Cashel,  Clonmel  and 
Dungarvan,  the  three  sons  of  Gerald  of  Desmond.  At  Imokilly 
they  delivered  to  James  Fitz-Maurice  who  had  come  over  from 
England,  all  the  castles  from  Cork  to  Waterford  appertaining  to 
Desmond,  and  at  Kinsale,  Kerrikurriky.  McCarthy  Reagh  and 
Muskerry  promised  to  keep  the  peace.  Whilst  in  the  O'Callaghan 
country  on  his  way  to  Limerick,  waiting  to  cross  the  Avonmore  now 
known  as  the  Blackwater,  then  swollen  by  recent  rains,  James  Fitz- 
john  with  a  large  following  on  the  other  side,  gave  the  deputy  to  under- 
stand that  O'Brien  and  himself  and  the  other  chiefs  were  opposed  to 
Ormond.     Grey  "  sore  moved  by  these  words  "  and  having  but  eight 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  285 

hundred  men,  went  back  to  Cork  and  thence  to  the  pale.  Con 
O'Neil  now  decLared  his  dct^ign  to  be  inaugurated  at  Tara.  He 
promised  to  meet  Grey  at  Dundalk,  on  the  twenty-second  of  Janu- 
ary, 1540.  But  his  forces  invaded  Felim  Roe  of  the  Fews  who  was 
friendly  to  the  English,  whereupon  the  deputy  took  and  burnt 
his  castle  of  Dungannon.  This  pretension  of  Con  to  the  crown 
aroused  the  jealousies  of  Manus  who  had  long  entertained  like 
aspirations.  It  was  fatal  to  the  cause  of  Gerald,  who  embarking  in 
March  as  a  wild  Irish  boy  in  a  saffron  shirt  sailed  for  St.  Malo. 
Finding  his  way  into  Italy  it  was  his  good  fortune  to  receive  there 
an  excellent  education,  a  fitting  preparation  for  his  prosperous 
career  later,  when  in  the  two  following  reigns  he  regained  land  and 
earldom.  His  aunt  suspecting  her  husband  had  designed  to  betray 
Gerald  to  the  English  government,  deserted  him,  and  as  she  lived 
long  after  his  next  wife  Margaret  MacDonnel  died  in  1544,  they  may 
have  been  legally  separated. 

The  Irish  parliament  long  proved  obstinate  in  refusing  the  ecclesi- 
astical twentieth,  and  it  was  only  in  1537  after  the  proctors  from 
the  bishops  had  been  expelled,  that  it  passed  that  bill  as  also  another 
for  dissolution  of  the  monasteries.  Disputes  arose  as  to  the  appoint- 
ments to  vacant  sees,  but  the  reformers  wei'e  not  strong  enough  to 
enforce  the  new  laws.  The  deputy  staunch  for  the  old  religion 
stood  in  the  way  of  reform,  and  requesting  his  recall  that  he  might 
inform  the  king  of  the  state  of  affairs  and  marry  a  wife,  he  was 
ordered  home.  Allen,  Brabazon  and  Ormond  were  summoned  over 
at  the  same  time  to  represent  the  opposite  side.  They  proved  too 
powerful  for  him.  He  was  thrown  into  the  tower,  and  upon  ninety 
charges,  with  little  exception  frivolous,  such  as  aiding  his  nephew  to 
escape,  the  fsxvor  shown  by  him  to  certain  chieftains,  traversing 
Thomond  with  slender  escort,  he  Avas  condemned  to  death  and 
executed  on  Tower  Hill  in  June,  1541. 

In  1539  ended  the  life  and  reign  of  Conor  O'Brien  king  of  Tho- 


286  TKANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

raond,  son  by  Joan,  daughter  of  the  eighth  lord  Kerry  of  Turlogh 
Don,  who  died  in  1528.  By  his  first  wife  Anastacia  Burke,  Conor 
had  Donogh  second  earl  of  Thomond,  by  his  second  Alice  daughter 
of  Maurice  Baccagh,  tenth  earl  of  Desmond,  Sir  Donal,  tanist  after 
the  death  of  his  uncle  Morogh  the  first  earl.  Conor  took  part  with 
Silken  Thomas  and  sheltered  Gerald  from  the  attempts  of  the  deputy 
to  obtain  possession  of  his  person,  and  later  refused  to  surrender  to 
the  king  the  plate  of  the  proscribed  family  which  had  been  entrusted 
to  his  keeping.  Before  his  death,  however,  he  made  peace  for  a 
year;  his  sub-chiefs,  Kennedy  of  Ormond,  Carrol  of  Ely,  Meagher 
of  Ikerrin,  MacMahon  of  Corcavaskin,  Conor  of  Corcumroe, 
Loghlin  of  Burren,  Grady  of  Kineldonal,  O'Brien  of  Ai'ra,  Mul- 
ryan  of  Owney,  Dwyer  of  Kilnemanna,  MacBrian  of  Oonagh,  also 
giving  in  their  submission.  Conor  was  the  last  king  of  Thomond. 
His  brother  MorroE^h  who  succeeded  him  surrenderinq;  the  territorv 
to  Henry,  and  receiving  it  back  as  first  earl,  with  remainder  to 
Donogh,  son  of  Conor.* 

An  incident  mentioned  by  the  Four  Masters  at  this  period  forms 
an  interesting  episode  amidst  the  marauds  and  sanguinary  conflicts 
they  relate.  Not  without  precedent  for  we  have  ali'eady  had  occa- 
sion to  advert  to  similar  gatherings  in  Hy-Mauy  and  Offaly.  From 
Bryan  elder  brother  of  Nial  of  the  nine  hostages  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, through  many  kings  of  Connaught,  descended  Mulroona, 
chieftain  of  Moylurg  in  Roscommon  about  the  time  of  the  battle  of 
Clontarf.  From  him  derived  the  Clanroona  embracing  the  MacDon- 
oghs  of  Tirerill  and  from  which  branched  the  MacDermots  Roe, 
their  progenitor  Dermot  being  brother  to  Conor  prince  of  Moylurg 
in  1300.  One  of  the  principal  abodes  of  the  elder  line  first  erected 
a  century  earlier  stood  upon  an  island  in  Lough  Kee,  which  was  cov- 
ered throughout  its  extent,  except  a  large  central  court  they  enclosed, 

*  The  ancestral  line  from  Turlogh  back  was  Tai:;d,  Torlogh,  Brien,  Mahon,  Murtogh, 
Turlogh,  Tagd,  Conor,  Donogh,  Donel  More,  Torlogh,  Dermocl,  Torlogh,  Tagd,  Brian 
B(jru,  whose  wives  in  the  reverse  order  were  taken  from  the  houses  of  Molloy,  MacCarthy, 
MacMorrogh,  O'Kenuedy,  Macnaraara,  O'Moore  and  Burke. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  287 

with  buikliugs  well  atlapted  to  repel  attack.  This  sheet  of  water  in 
the  barony  of  Boyle,  one  of  the  many  laying  on  either  side  of  the 
Shannon,  a  river  which  through  seventy  tributaries  great  and  small 
drains  a  valley  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  miles  in  length,  is 
nearly  circular  and  more  than  three  miles  in  extent.  Spreading  out 
from  the  easterly  base  of  the  Curlew  mountains,  Avhicli  of  gentle 
acclivity  are  now  cultivated  nearly  to  their  summits,  it  is  studded 
with  twenty  islands,  several  of  them  occupied  by  remains  of  abbies 
and  churches,  castle  and  fortalice.  As  not  infrequent  in  Ireland, 
the  lake  served  as  a  social  centre  for  the  tribe,  and  seat  of  govern- 
ment for  the  chief,  and  when  the  convent  bell  mingled  its  echoes  Avith 
the  harp  and  song,  and  its  shores  and  islands  resounded  with 
the  mingled  murmur  of  a  numerous  population,  it  must  have  been  a 
pleasant  place  for  dwelling.  Its  ancient  structures,  now  in  pictur- 
esque decay  and  mantled  with  ivy,  harmoniously  combine  with  many 
abodes  of  modern  elegance  which  lay  about  the  lake,  Kockingham 
castle,  the  residence  of  Lord  Lorton,  being  especially  conspicuous,  to 
lend  variety  to  a  scene  of  great  natural  beauty. 

Here  through  many  centuries  ruled  and  dwelt  the  Macdermot 
chieftains,  substantially  independent.  From  the  frequently  repeated 
incursions  of  the  Kinel  Konel  into  Moylurg,  especially  after  the 
O'Conors  lost  supremacy  in  Connaught,  it  is  evident  that  though 
the  princes  of  Tyrconnel  claimed  sovereignty  over  them,  they  never 
acknowledged  fealty  nor  paid  tribute,  unless  under  coercion  by  force 
they  could  not  resist.  Their  peculiar  official  relation  eai-lier  to  the 
O'Conor,  putting  on  his  shoe  at  his  coronation  at  Cairnfraich,  was 
less  a  token  of  personal  subjection  than  of  mutual  obligation.  They 
took  an  active  part  in  the  wars  with  their  neighbors,  and  were  more 
exposed  from  their  advanced  position  in  the  path  of  war. 

This  long  line  of  chieftains,  often  mentioned  by  the  annalists  with 
distinguished  respect  for  their  prowess,  culture  and  munificence, 
were  represented  in  1540  by  Rory,  who  with  his  spouse,  daughter  of 


288  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

his  neighbor  Burke  of  Clanrickard,  gave  that  year  a  general  invita- 
tion of  hospitahty  to  the  schohirs  of  Ireland,  and  to  all  who  sought 
gifts,  to  share  in  the  festivities  of  the  Rock,  as  this  castle  on  the 
lake  was  called.  Here  flocked  in  large  numbers  whatever  was 
eminent  in  erudition  or  ability,  and  who  many  of  them  were  is 
plain  from  the  names  embalmed  in  their  native  annals  as  then  re- 
nowned. They  were  generously  entertained  by  their  honored  hosts, 
who  allowed  none  to  go  unsatisfied  away.  Offshoots  from  the  parent 
stem  of  the  Macdermots  have  since  done  honor  to  the  name,  and  one 
who  bore  it  by  marriage,  not  by  birth,  watched  tenderly  over  the 
happiness  of  the  Wind  minstrel  O'Carolan,  1670 — 1738,  and  it  was  at 
her  home  at  Alderford  that  he  died.  His  funeral  obsequies  were 
largely  attended,  taking  place  in  the  abbey  church  of  Kilronan, 
near  by.  In  our  own  day  the  race  exhibits  its  pristine  vigor  and 
culture  by  freshly  gathered  laurels  in  law  and  literature. 


XXX. 

REIGN  OF  HENRY  VIII. — 1509-1547,— (Continued). 
The  direct  and  most  immediate  influence  at  work  to  separate  Eng- 
land from  the  catholic  church  is  generally  admitted  to  have  been  the 
settled  purpose  of  the  king  to  repudiate  Catherine  and  marry  Ann. 
Ten  years  before  this  second  marriage  which  took  place  privately  in 
1532,  his  latin  treatise  against  Luther  obtained  for  him  from  Leo 
the  tenth  the  title  of  defender  of  the  faith.  However  conversant 
with  scholastic  divinity,  his  religious  opinions,  which  never  varied 
much  from  Roman  standards,  hardly  reached  his  character  or  con- 
science, and  little  of  the  saint  entered  into  his  life  or  nature.  His  love 
of  sway  and  domineering  temper  brooked  no  control,  and  what  claimed 
his  veneration,  provoked  his  hostility.  The  manners  of  his  youth 
were  gracious,  his  presence  pleasing,  and  his  constitutional  vigor  and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  289 

open-handed jprofiisioii  attached  to  him  his  people.  Their  affection- 
ate loyalty  yielded  slowly  to  his  later  developed  traits  of  cruelty  and 
self-indulgence,  and  they  took  ready  part  on  his  side  in  a  controversy 
which  seemed  to  involve  his  conjugal  happiness. 

His  imfortunate  marriage  justly  claimed  commiseration  ;  but  such 
trials  bcfill  all  conditions.  The  sanctity  of  the  tie  for  better  or 
Avorse  is  the  corner  stone  of  our  social  structure  as  of  civilization 
itself  and  he  was  bound  to  submit.  It  is  creditable  to  the  firmness 
and  consistency  of  Clement,  if  prompted  by  such  considerations,  he 
withstood  the  urgent  appeal  of  Henry,  but  his  obduracy  is  generally 
attributed  to  unwillingness  to  displease  Charles  the  Fifth,  nephew  of 
the  queen.  He  temporized  by  authorizing  cardinals  Wolsey  and 
Campeggio  to  inquire  into  the  facts.  But  Wolsey  with  aspirations 
for  the  papal  throne  and  disposed  to  conciliate  the  emperor,  thwarted 
his  master,  who,  when  the  court  closed  and  the  case  was  recalled 
to  Rome,  more  resolved  than  ever  to  effect  his  purpose,  replaced  him 
by  Cromwell  and  threw  off  allegiance  to  the  sovereign  pontiff. 

But  other  and  higher  motives  contributed  to  the  renunciation  of  pa- 
pal authority  and  to  the  independence  of  the  English  church.  For  at 
least  two  centuries  Englishmen  had  been  found  disposed  to  think 
for  themselves.  Now  that  the  sacred  scriptures,  no  longer  a  sealed 
book  to  the  laity,  through  the  recent  invention  of  printing  were  ex- 
tensively read,  differences  of  interpretation  and  inference  took  fast 
hold  of  inquisitive  minds.  Freedom  of  thought  revolted  against 
dictation  in  matters  of  faith,  and  gi'owing  enlightenment  recognized 
no  such  sanctity  in  the  life  or  conversation  of  the  hierarchs  of  the 
sixteenth  century  as  constituted  them  infallible  guides  in  Christendom. 
If  English  ecclesiastics  had  been  more  generally  like  Fisher  and 
Cromer  the  king  would  not  have  ventured  to  disturb  them.  Neither 
Wolsey  nor  Browne  were  favorable  samples  of  christian  character. 
The  cloister  still  served  as  an  asylum  for  the  feeble  and  unfortunate, 
travellers  within  their  gates  received  hospitable  welcome,  but  neither 
3Y 


290  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

regular  nor  secular  inspired  respect  by  their  piety  or  asceticism. 
Tenacious  and  grasping  they  did  not  realize  how  far  they  had  sur- 
vived their  usefulness,  and  unable  or  unwilling  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  the  march  of  human  progress 
which  they  vainly  sought  to  stay,  marched  over  them.  They  disap- 
peared as  they  are  now  disappearing  in  other  lands,  to  be  perhaps 
revived  in  later  days  under  happier  auspices  in  closer  accordance 
with  the  needs  of  a  purified  faith. 

Still  neither  ecclesiastical  corruption  nor  religious  speculation, 
so  much  as  the  claim  of  the  church  to  control  in  affairs  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual,  hastened  separation.  Dogmas  widened  the 
breach,  imputed  abuses  greatly  exaggerated  quickened  disaffection, 
but  it  was  papal  interference  in  politics,  attempted  subordination  of 
state  to  church  that  brought  about  the  reformation.  In  the  acrimo- 
ny engendered  what  characterized  the  ancient  faith  shared  in  the 
growing  prejudice,  and  much  was  sacrificed  to  its  iconoclastic  temper 
protestants  regret.  Kites  and  observances,  sacred  by  immemorial 
custom  and  endeared  by  habit,  were  discarded,  to  which  among  many 
there  is  a  disposition  to  return.  The  beliefs  common  to  Christendom 
are  vastly  more  important  than  their  specific  differences.  However 
earnest  not  to  lose  sight  of  its  essential  truths  in  outward  form,  their 
recognition  seeks  expression  in  accordance  with  our  complex  nature. 
What  serves  to  keep  them  paramount  or  aids  devotion  commends  it- 
self to  whoever  estimates  aright  our  dependence  or  the  mysteries  in- 
volved in  revelation. 

Providence  if  inscrutable  follows  rational  paths.  Emancipation 
of  the  Germanic  races  from  their  old  leading  strings,  when  able 
to  read  and  think  for  themselves,  was  one  step  in  human  pro- 
gress, not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  earthly  potentate.  The  six  articles 
enjoining  transubstantiation,  sanctioning  communion  in  one  kind, 
celibacy  of  the  clergy,  monastic  vows,  private  masses  and  auricular 
confession  were  passed  in  1539  at  the  instance  of  Henry.     The  pil- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  291 

grimage  of  grace  which  desolated  the  kingdom  and  other  persecutions 
instituted  by  Cromwell  were  rather  to  maintain  his  supremacy  than 
punish  heresy.  When  after  Jane  Seymour  died  in  childbed  of  Ed- 
ward in  1537,  and  Cromwell  had  fallen  from  grace  by  inducing  the 
king  in  1540  to  marry  Ann  of  Cleves,  soon  after  divorced  for 
Catharine  HoAvard  a  catholic  beheaded  two  years  later,  protestants 
were  proscribed.  What  actuated  him  was  a  headstrong  will  impa- 
tient of  restraint.  Instances  in  his  house  of  papal  resentment  coun- 
selled him  to  keep  beyond  its  reach.  The  closing  of  the  court  of  the 
cardinals  in  1531  virtually  ended  England's  connection  with  the  Ro- 
man church,  except  for  the  few  years  of  the  reign  of  his  daughter 
Mary,  and  was  followed  by  decrees  for  his  excommunication. 

Not  easily  intimidated,  Henry  was  ever  jealous  of  plots  against  his 
throne.  Whilst  the  church  retained  its  possessions,  reaction  might  set 
in  and  his  life  be  endangered.  Two  centuries  before  the  vast  estates 
of  the  Templars,  upon  charge  of  similar  abuses  to  what  were  now 
imputed  to  the  ecclesiastical  bodies,  had  been  confiscated.  His  wars 
and  pageants,  the  expenses  attending  his  divorce,  the  avidity  of  his 
ministers  had  drained  his  treasury.  The  eighteen  hundred  thousand 
pounds  Empson  and  Dudley  had  accumvilated  for  his  father  having 
been  squandered,  the  church  property  offered  to  the  king,  when  in 
doubt  how  to  replenish  his  coffers  for  the  indulgence  of  his  ex- 
travagant habits  and  appetites,  temptations  not  easily  withstood. 
By  advice  of  Cromwell  nearly  four  hundred  religious  houses  in 
England  were  suppressed  in  a  single  year,  Henry  to  disarm  opposi- 
tion founding  colleges  and  sharing  the  spoil  with  his  nobles. 

The  Four  Masters  in  presenting  the  view  taken  of  the  early  periods 
of  the  reformation  by  the  Irish  themselves  under  date  of  1537,  say 
that  "  a  heresy  and  new  error  springing  up  in  England  through  pride, 
vain  glory,  avarice  and  lust,  and  through  many  strange  sciences, 
the  men  of  England  went  into  opposition  to  the  pope  and  to  Rome. 
They  at  the  same  time  adopted  various  opinions  and  among  them 


292  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

the  old  law  of  Moses,  in  imitation  of  the  Jewish  people ;  and  they 
styled  the  king  the  chief  head  of  the  church  of  God  in  his  own 
kingdom.  New  laws  and  statutes  were  enacted  by  the  king  and 
parliament  according  to  their  own  will.  They  destroyed  the  orders, 
to  whom  worldly  possessions  were  allowed,  namely  the  monks,  can- 
ons, nuns,  brethren  of  the  cross  and  the  four  poor  orders,  minors, 
preachers,  carmelites  and  augustinians ;  and  the  lordships  and  liv- 
ings of  those  were  taken  up  for  the  king.  They  broke  down  the 
monasteries,  and  sold  their  roofs  and  bells,  so  that  from  Arran  of 
the  saints  to  the  Iccian  sea  there  was  not  one  monastery  that  was 
not  broken  and  shattered,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  in  Ireland,  of 
which  the  English  took  no  notice  or  heed.  They  afterwards  burned 
the  images,  shrines  and  relics  of  the  saints  of  Ireland  and  England; 
they  likewise  burnt  the  celebrated  image  of  the  blessed  virgin  at 
Trim,  which  used  to  heal  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  the  crippled  and 
persons  affected  with  all  kinds  of  diseases ;  and  also  the  staff  of 
Jesus  which  was  in  Dublin,  performing  miracles  from  the  time  of 
St.  Patrick  down  to  that  time,  and  had  been  in  the  hands  of  Christ 
whilst  he  was  among  men.  They  also  appointed  archbishops  and 
sub-bishops  for  themselves,  and  though  great  was  the  persecution  of 
the  Roman  emperors  against  the  church,  scarcely  had  there  ever 
come  so  great  a  persecution  from  Rome  as  this  ;  so  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  narrate,  or  tell  its  descriptions,  unless  it  should  be  narrated 
by  one  who  saw  it." 

Many  monasteries  were  beyond  reach  and  escaped  molestation  till 
within  a  recent  period ;  a  few  remain  on  their  ancient  foundations. 
The  number  suppressed  under  Henry  has  not  been  ascertained. 
Grey  who  had  set  at  liberty  prisoners  arrested  by  Brown  for  infring- 
ing the  ordinances,  wrote  Cromwell  in  May,  1539,  requesting  that 
six  houses  should  be  exempted  from  the  general  suppression — St. 
Mary's  Abbey  and  Christ  Church,  Dublin,  Grace-Dieu  in  Fingall, 
Connell  Abbey  in  Kildare,   Kclls  and  Jcrpoint,  Kilkenny,  "  for  in 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  293 

these  houses  commonly  and  such  like  in  default  of  common  inns 
which  are  not  in  this  land,  the  deputy  council  and  Irishmen  coming  to 
the  deputy  have  been  lodged  at  the  cost  of  said  houses  ; "  "  young  men 
and  childer  both  gentlemen  childer  and  others,  both  of  mankind  and 
woman  kind,  were  brought  up  in  virtue,  learning  and  the  English 
tongue,  the  ladies  all  in  the  nunneries  of  Grace-Dieu,  the  young 
men  in  other  houses.  St.  Mary's  Abbey  was  the  hotel  of  all  people 
of  quality  coming  from  England,  and  Christ  Church  was  at  once  the 
parliament  house,  the  council  house  and  the  common  resort  in  their 
time  for  definitions  of  all  matters  by  the  judges."  "  The  abbot  of  St. 
Mary's  pled  we  verily  be  but  stewards  and  purveyors  to  other  mens 
uses  for  the  kings  honor,  keeping  hospitality  and  many  poor  men 
soldiers  and  orphans." 

The  abbeys  of  Bective,  St.  Peter's  at  Trim,  Dousk,  Duleek, 
Holmpatrick,  Dunbrody,  Tintern,  Ballybogan,  Hogges,  and  Femes 
were  immediately  confiscated,  and  many  besides,  at  later  periods. 
Thomas  Court  fell  to  Brabazon,  ancestor  of  the  earls  of  Meath,  Grace- 
Dieu  to  Barnewall  of  Trimlestown,  the  O'Briens  received  Ellenesrane 
and  others  in  Clare,  Gilpatrick  baron  of  Upper  Ossory,  Aglievo  and 
Hagmacarte.  The  royal  supremacy  over  the  church  had  been  re- 
cognized in  the  session  of  1536,  papal  authority  declared  at  an  end, 
and  penalties  attached  to  disregard  of  these  decrees.  Priests  who 
refused  to  surrender  chm'cli  property  were  slain  at  the  altar.  These 
sequestrations  and  arbitrary  proceedings  took  time,  and  attracted 
less  attention  then,  than  after  their  consequences  were  felt  and  they 
were  better  understood. 

Upon  the  departure  of  Grey  Sir  William  Brcreton  was  selected 
for  the  administration.  IMac  Morrough,  O'Toole  and  O'Connor 
harried  the  settlements.  Active  correspondence  went  on  as  before, 
between  the  Ulster  chiefs  and  Spain  and  Scotland.  Upon  rumor 
that  all  the  septs  were  to  muster  for  a  general  council  or  hosting  at 
Foure  in  ^A'est  Meath,  bishops,  peers  and  judges,  all  conditions  of 


294  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

men  in  the  pale,  to  the  number  of  ten  thousand,  collected,  but  find- 
ing there  no  trace  of  any  such  gathering  they  amused  themselves  for 
twenty  days  as  long  as  their  provisions  lasted,  with  destroying  corn, 
castles  and  dwellings  in  OfFaly.  Such  marauds  soon  left  little  for 
destruction.  Both  Con  and  Manus  had  grown  weary  of  this  perpet- 
ual strife  and  devastation  when  no  longer  bolstered  up  by  the  hope 
of  consolidating  the  strength  of  the  septs  for  independence.  They 
wrote  the  king  expressing  their  willingness  to  become  good  subjects  ; 
but  requesting  various  grants  and  favors  in  return.  Con's  letter  was 
in  Latin  under  liis  seal  and  accompanied  by  gifts. 

In  August,  1540,  arrived  Sir  Anthony  St.  Leger,  one  of  the  ablest 
statesmen  ever  entrusted  with  the  government,  which  remained  for 
the  most  part  for  the  next  twenty  years  in  his  charge.  His  arrival 
produced  early  fniits.  MacMorrough,  after  Idrone  in  Carlow  his 
only  remaining  possession  had  been  ten  days  wasted  by  Ormond, 
gave  up  that  title  as  chief,  and  promised  for  himself  and  his  succes- 
sors to  be  known  thereafter  only  by  the  name  of  Kavanagh. 

Leix  and  Offaly  were  overrun.  Accompanied  by  Ormond,  the 
deputy  then  proceeded  to  the  south.  At  Cahir,  the  castle  of  Sir 
Thomas  Butler,  his  friend,  James  Fitz  John,  now  through  the  mur- 
der or  manslaughter  by  his  brother  Maurice  A'Totan  at  Leacain  in 
Kerry  of  the  court  page  thirteenth  Desmond,  the  rightful  earl, 
accepted  terms  of  amity ,  renouncing  his  hereditary  privilege  granted 
to  the  seventh  earl  of  not  attending  parliament  or  entering  any  walled 
town  except  at  his  own  pleasure.  He  entertained  St.  Leger  and  Or- 
mond at  his  castle  of  Kilmattock,  where  no  English  governor  had 
been  for  a  century,  and  in  parting  expressed  his  disposition  to  visit 
the  king  at  London,  which  in  1542  he  accomplished.  At  Limerick 
Morrogh  king  of  Thomond  by  tanistiy  remained  three  days  in  con- 
ference with  the  deputy,  from  whom  his  request  to  rebuild  the  bridge 
over  the  Shannon  and  regain  his  dominions  east  and  south  of  the 
river  met  with  little  encouragement. 


TKANSFER     OF     ERIN.  295 

Ills  ^yings  were  indeed  clipped.  Donogli,  son-in-law  of  Ormond 
and  eldest  son  of  the  late  king  Conor,  still  continued  devoted  to  the 
powers  of  the  pale.  His  maternal  uncle  Ulick  Na  Cean,  chief  of 
Clanrickard,  was  of  like  mind  ;  and  his  territory  interposed  between 
Thomond  and  Tyrconnel  prevented  Morrogh  and  Manus  combin- 
ing if  disposed.  Ulick  is  represented  by  the  deputy  to  the  king  as 
"  a  goodly  man,  desirous  of  coming  to  civil  order,  and  sooner  to  be 
brought  to  conformity  by  small  gifts  and  honest  persuasion,  than  by 
taking  anything  away  from  him  or  by  rigor,"  praise  not  in  character 
with  his  name  "  of  the  heads,"  given  him  from  the  piles  heaped  up 
of  what  he  had  chopped  from  his  enemies.  Before  the  summer  was 
over,  O'Byrnes  requested  that  Wicklow  should  be  made  shire  ground. 
Their  neighbor  Turlogh  O'Toole,  who  when  the  pale  was  menaced 
from  Ulster  volunteered  to  defend  it,  declaring  when  their  assailants 
were  beaten  off  he  should  resume  hostilities,  grew  less  lofty  when  har- 
ried by  the  deputy  and  Ormond,  and  made  peace.  He  requested 
leave  to  visit  the  king  and  twenty  pounds  were  advanced  him  for  his 
charges.  Upon  his  return  he  was  slain  by  his  kinsman  another  Tur- 
logh, who  did  not  lose  favor  for  the  deed  with  the  government.  How 
it  chanced  that  the  deputy  with  inadequate  means  in  a  few  weeks 
effected  so  much  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  his  coming  at  an  oppor- 
tune moment. 

There  were  many  abuses  for  him  to  reform.  Cowley,  who  had 
been  sent  over  not  long  before  to  investigate  what  became  of  the  king's 
Irish  revenues,  reported  that  no  books  or  accounts  were  kept  of  them. 
They  were  disbursed  by  Brabazon  and  Agard  as  they  saw  fit,  or  left 
in  charge  of  officials  who  embezzled  directly  or  indirectly  the  larger 
part.  Much  went  to  support  garrisons  too  weak  and  widely  dis- 
persed for  efficient  service,  who  lived  in  riot  and  pillaged  loyal 
subjects.  The  commander  of  castle  Jordan  was  away  taking  his 
pastime  when  O'Conor  took  possession  of  it  without  resistance.  The 
recommendation  of  Cowley  that  commissioners,  neither  needy  nor 


296  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

greedy,  should  examine  into  these  irregularities  and  confidence  bo 
placed  in  men  of  character  and  property  of  the  pale,  who  should 
be  trusted  and  employed,  rather  than  officials  sent  over  without 
sympathy  for  the  people  or  interest  in  their  prosperity,  had  its 
weight.  One  of  the  Plunkets  was  created  baron  of  Dunsany,  an- 
other of  Louth ;  Edmund  Butler,  of  Dunboyne  near  Dublin ; 
William  Bermingham  of  Carbry  ;  John  Rawson  viscount  of  Clontarf, 
and  Thomas  Eustace  of  Baltinglass.  From  their  power  and  dignity 
as  hereditary  law-givers  their  influence  was  extended,  and  of  like 
views  and  associated  in  public  duty,  they  were  too  independent  to 
be  reached  by  the  baser  sort  who  sought  office  for  pelf.  They  had  of 
course  objects  of  their  own  to  answer,  to  keep  their  estates  and  lessen 
public  charges.  But  these  objects  were  best  promoted  by  honest 
administration,  by  good  understanding  among  themselves,  and  en- 
couraging in  the  septs  friendly  dispositions  toward  the  government. 

Indeed,  not  only  several  of  the  chiefs  of  Ulster  and  Connaught, 
but  O'Briens,  McCarthys,  McMoroughs ,  O'Dempseys,  Mulroys, 
M'Laghlins,  M'Greoghans,  even  the  O'Connors,  O'Moores  and 
O'Tooles  professed  their  willingness  to  accept  the  actual  condition  of 
affiiirs  and  give  in  their  allegiance  to  Henry  as  king,  a  title  conferred 
upon  him  in  1541  by  the  Irish  parliament.  At  this  session  attended 
not  only  Barry  and  Roche,  Kerry  and  Athenry,  but  Cavanaghs, 
O'Moores,  O'Reillys  and  Clanrickard.  Ormond  translated  the 
speeches  of  the  chancellor  and  speaker  to  the  many  of  English  race 
as  well  as  Irish  who  understood  no  English. 

The  diffi3rences  which  had  long  embittered  the  relations  of  Des- 
mond and  Ormond  were  now  adjusted  by  cross-marriages  between 
their  children,  the  latter  relinquishing  all  claim  to  the  earldom  of 
the  former  which  he  had  previously  urged  in  right  of  his  wife,  only 
child  of  the  eleventh  earl.  Roche  and  Fitzgibbon,  whose  domains 
touched  and  who  were  constantly  at  feud,  were  captured  and  impri- 
soned in  the  castle,  and  occupying  the  same  bed  became  good  friends. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  297 

O'Xell  and  O'Donnel  first  held  back,  but  before  another  year  was 
over  Con  accepted  the  title  of  earl  of  Tyrone,  and  his  son  of  Lord 
Dungannon.  On  the  first  Sunday  in  July,  1543,  also  at  Green- 
wich, with  religious  rites  and  splendid  ceremonial,  followed  by  a 
banquet,  Morough  O'Brien  was  created  earl  of  Thomond  for  life 
with  the  barony  of  Inchiquin  intail ;  Donogh  the  son  of  Conor  his 
elder  brother,  baron  of  Ibreckan  intail,  with  the  reversion  of  the 
earldom ;  Ulick  de  Burgh,  Donogh's  maternal  uncle,  earl  of  Clan- 
rickard  and  baron  of  Dunkellin. 

The  new  lords  surrendered  all  claim  to  their  old  titles  and  sover- 
eignty as  chiefs,  as  also  to  their  lands,  which  they  took  back  under 
English  tenure.  There  were  of  course  many  disappointments. 
O'Donnel  wished  to  be  made  earl  of  Sligo  or  Tyrconnel,  McNamara 
of  Clancuilen.  The  latter  with  O'Grady  and  O'Shaughnessy,  as  also 
two  of  the  Maginneses,  received  the  honor  of  knighthood.  Gilpatrick 
was  created  lord  of  Upper  Ossory ;  O'Reilly,  viscount  Cavan. 
O'ConorofOfFaly  promised  baronial  rank  appears  not  to  have  obtain- 
ed it.  The  king  ordered  them  supplied  with  robes  and  money  and 
residences  at  Dublin.  They  all  were  sadly  in  need  of  decent  attire. 
Some  even  of  the  great  English  proprietors  wore  saffron  sliirts  and 
shaggy  kernogues,  and  O'Rourke  begged  for  common  clothing. 

Cut  off  by  the  disturbed  condition  of  the  times  from  sources  of 
supply,  and  expending  whatever  means  they  possessed  in  coats  of 
mail  and  implements  of  war,  the  deputy  describes  chiefs  and  lords  of 
either  race  as  poorly  clad  for  occasions  of  peace.  O'Donnel  was  an 
exception.  His  active  hostings  replenished  his  coffers,  and  constant 
intercourse  with  other  lands  his  garments.  His  dress  consisted  of  a 
coat  of  crimson  velvet  with  twenty  or  thirty  pairs  of  golden  aiglets, 
and  over  that  a  great  double  cloak  of  crimson  satin,  bordered  with 
black  velvet ;  and  in  his  bonnet  a  feather  set  full  with  aiglets  of  gold. 
To  him  as  to  the  rest  were  presented  parliamentary  robes.  The 
modest  apparel  of  the  chieftains  and  their  scanty  wardrobes  as  ob- 
38 


298  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

served  by  St.  Leger  and  reported  home  were  accidental.  Taste  for 
brilliant  colors  and  various  material  led  in  Ireland  as  in  other 
countries  at  the  period  to  extravagance,  which  during  this  reign 
was  sought  to  be  restrained  by  statute. 

The  conciliatory  policy  of  the  king,  if  kindly  intended  and  with 
no  ulterior  design,  struck  a  fatal  blow  at  Irish  independence.  It 
sowed  seeds  of  discord,  spread  plentifully  the  sj^ores  of  distrust  and 
disaffection.  Preference  to  O'Brien  and  O'Neil  created  jealousies 
amongst  disappointed  expectants  of  similar  honors,  who  after  waiting 
in  vain  for  fulfilment  of  their  hopes  settled  down  into  more  hostile 
dispositions  than  before.  The  land  was  in  a  ferment.  For  the  chief  to 
accept  an  earldom  was  surrendering  the  right  of  the  sept  to  self-gov- 
ernment, virtual  abandonment  of  all  its  usages  and  ti'aditions. 
In  some  instances  it  was  regarded  as  abdication  of  the  chieftain- 
ship which  was  filled  by  new  selection.  But  whilst  refusing  to  recog- 
nize the  power  of  the  chief  to  surrender  land  or  jurisdiction,  the 
dangerous  consequences  of  even  pretension  to  exercise  it  were 
obvious  enough  for  alarm. 

If  these  titular  distinctions  had  been  more  generally  bestowed 
opposition  might  have  gradually  disarmed.  The  superior  dignity 
and  influence  of  English  earls  and  barons  had  worked  prejudicially  to 
the  septs,  and  this  and  disputed  successions  under  brehon  law  were 
an  admitted  evil.  If  the  two  countries  were  to  be  consolidated  into 
one  realm,  and  distinctions  of  race  to  be  efi'aced,  to  admit  both  on 
equal  terms  to  rank  and  privilege,  as  to  right  before  the  law,  was  an 
important  step.  Judiciously  planned,  and  carried  out  with  due  re- 
gard to  vested  interests,  the  change  would  have  worked  its  way  to 
general  acceptance.  It  was  a  favorable  moment  for  such  an  inno- 
vation. On  the  brehon  code  had  been  engrafted  many  feudal  ideas 
borrowed  from  the  long  established  institutions  around  them.  The 
social  and  political  systems  of  both  races  in  their  pyramidal  struc- 
ture were  sufficiently  alike  for  this  distribution  of  rank  and  legislative 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  299 

function  not  to  be  embarrassing.  No  prejudice  existed  to  be  shocked, 
no  rankle  would  have  been  left,  for  each  sept  would  have  participated 
in  the  honors  bestowed  upon  its  chief.  Neither  peerage  nor  parlia- 
ment would  have  been  swamped  by  numbers,  since  the  roll  if  extended 
under  Cromwell  had  been  greatly  reduced  by  recent  attainders. 

The  case  here,  when  our  American  colonies  severed  their  destinies 
from  the  mother  land,  was  different.  Though  of  the  same  race, 
faith  and  political  institutions,  in  the  general  equality  of  condition 
that  prevailed  hereditary  rank  would  have  been  out  of  place.  lie- 
publican  sentiment  had  already  reached  a  development  that  revolted 
against  domination  by  a  privileged  class,  especially  from  over  the  sea  ; 
and  though  the  struggle  for  independence  originated  in  an  impa- 
tience of  arbitrary  power,  that  the  objectionable  measures  proceeded 
from  a  government  so  constituted,  widened  the  breach.  That  it  pro- 
duced such  sentiment  needs  little  proof.  Washington  ranked  high 
as  an  officer,  he  had  saved  the  army  of  Braddock  from  destruction, 
but  as  a  provincial  was  refused  a  commission  in  the  regular  service. 
Such  unjust  discrimination  festering  in  the  minds  of  influential  lead- 
ers rendered  impossible  common  nationality  for  people  of  the  same 
kindred  where  geographically  remote,  and  it  must  work  less  kindly 
where  of  different  race  in  close  proximity  and  intermixed. 

Surrender  of  the  territory  to  the  crown  and  regrant  upon  English 
tenure,  if  of  any  validity,  involved  consequences  if  not  of  deeper, 
of  more  immediate  import  than  simple  recognition  of  sovereignty. 
That  the  sept  ignored  in  Thomond  by  electing  after  the  death  of 
Donogh,  the  second  earl,  in  1558,  Sir  Donald  his  brother  as  tanist. 
It  was  not  attempted,  probably  not  contemplated  to  disturb  vested 
rights.  But  if  carried  out"  to  its  legitimate  consequences,  all  such 
rights  were  at  the  pleasure  of  the  lord  paramount  and  no  one  would 
be  safe.  The  consent  of  the  sept  had  not  been  obtained  or  requested, 
and  the  whole  transaction  revolutionary  and  simple  usurpation  threat- 
ened to   deprive  them  against  their  will  of  their  inheritance.      The 


300  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

regrant  back  being  to  the  chief  and  his  lineal  heirs,  if  they  failed,  the 
territory  vested  absolutely  in  the  crown .  For  kinsmen  within  the  de- 
grees there  was  claim  for  the  succession  or  to  be  elected  tanists.  Far- 
ther down  in  the  scale  there  were  a  great  variety  of  vested  rights  to  be 
swept  away.  Even  fuidhirs  and  bondsmen  of  the  lower  sort  and  all 
the  expectant  heirs  entitled  by  gavelkind  to  a  share  of  estates  held 
by  their  parents  or  kinsfolk,  could  not  tell  where  this  modifica- 
tion of  their  ancient  tenures  might  stop. 

If  both  essentially  differing  from  the  allodial  and  absolute  owner- 
ship known  to  our  law,  both  Irish  and  feudal  tenures  had  their 
general  resemblances  in  the  complicated  duties  and  reciprocal  ob- 
ligations of  lord  and  vassal,  chief  and  sept.  In  other  respects  they 
were  greatly  dissimilar.  What  they  actually  were  under  the  brehon 
law  is  still  somewhat  a  matter  of  conjecture  and  dispute.  The 
Senchas  Mor,  Book  of  Aichill,  Conus  Becsna  and  other  tracts  re- 
cently translated,  of  great  antiquity,  long  continued  in  authority 
as  guides  for  the  brehons,  upon  whom  devolved  the  charge  of  re- 
gulating conveyances  and  contracts,  reducing  them  to  shape,  re- 
cording and  giving  them  force.  With  the  breaking  up  of  the 
monarchy  and  legislative  institutions  consequent  on  the  invasion, 
power  vested  more  in  the  chief,  and  changes  in  custom  and  law 
assumed  form  and  sanction  from  adjudications  by  brehons  or  sti- 
pulations entered  into  by  concession  or  compulsion  according  to 
chance  and  circumstance.  Occasion  no  doubt  was  improved,  when 
the  ollavs  and  brehons  assembled,  to  revise  them,  and  as  these 
functionaries  were  hereditary  and  belonged  to  a  few  families,  such 
frequent  consultation  would  naturally  tend  to  prevent  innovation 
and  ensure  uniformity. 

What  relation  the  chief  held  by  law  either  to  land  or  sept  is  not 
susceptible  of  precise  definition,  as  it  underwent  many  changes  and 
varied  in  different  tribes.  That  the  territory  belonged  to  the  clan, 
a  term  conventionally  employed  to  embrace  all  the  inhabitants,  or 


TEANSFER      OF     ERIN.  301 

to  the  sept,  consisting  of  the  descendants  from  its  ancient  chiefs 
in  certain  restricted  degrees,  rather  than  to  the  chieftain  himself,  is 
a  formula  generally  admitted.  lie  had  property  of  his  own  by 
inheritance,  castles  and  domains  which  appertained  to  his  office, 
power  to  dispose  of  estates  vacated  by  death  or  forfeited  for  re- 
bellion, of  the  common  lands  for  the  general  benefit.  Redistribution 
upon  decease  of  a  clansman,  or  at  stated  intervals  as  not  unknown  in 
our  New  England  settlements  for  meadow  lands  held  in  common,  had 
led  to  inconvenience  and  been  abandoned.  But  apportionments  and 
grants  in  severalty  were  regulated  by  law  and  not  at  the  mere  pleas- 
ure of  the  chieftain.  Clansmen  were  not  his  tenants  but  the  tribe's. 
What  they  paid  him  to  defray  the  charges  of  administration  or  ex- 
penses incident  to  his  position  was  rather  tax  than  rent,  and  for  the 
most  part  applied  for  the  general  benefit,  not  for  his  family  needs  or 
private  indulgence. 

His  time  and  thoughts  were  devoted  to  the  public.  Constantly 
employed  in  official  duties  as  ruler  or  judge,  commander  in  war 
and  in  peace,  surrounded  by  the  dignitaries  of  his  court ;  his 
gates  ever  open  in  hospitality  to  his  humblest  clansmen,  few  purely 
selfish  considerations  could  have  entered  his  mind.  His  course 
open  to  public  scrutiny,  depending  on  popularity  for  retaining  his 
hold  on  the  loyalty  of  the  clan,  he  was  constrained  to  be  just  and 
generous,  and  magnanimity  was  hardly  an  effijrt  or  a  virtue.  His 
power  if  not  absolute  was  not  often  disputed,  it  was  necessarily 
exercised  with  caution,  and  he  rarely  presumed  to  infringe  upon 
the  rights  of  his  subordinates  as  defined  by  law  or  regulated  by 
custom.  Instances  occvu'  where  lands  taken  from  one  were  trans- 
ferred to  another,  younger  sons  provided  for  by  grants  of  territory 
under  obligation  of  fealty.  His  cosherings  might  sometimes  prove 
oppressive ;  his  coyne  and  livery,  risings  out  or  compulsion  to 
military  service,  bonaght  or  claim  to  quarters  for  his  soldiers. 
These  were  incidents  of  vassalage,  often  pressing  heavily  on  farm 


302  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

or  village.  But  nowhere  would  a  chieftain  have  ventured  upon  the 
theory  that  the  territory  of  the  sept  was  his  individual  estate  to  use 
as  he  pleased.  His  subordinate  flaths  and  bothachs,  his  ceille 
bond  or  free,  held  their  lands  by  grant  or  prescription  by  right  as 
sacred  and  secure  as  he  his  castle  or  demesne. 

Why  Tyrconnel  failed  to  share  in  this  distribution  of  honors  is  not 
easily  explained,  for  he  was  willing  to  acknowledge  the  royal  supre- 
macy. Henry  possibly  may  have  denied  to  others  conjugal  liberties 
lie  indulged  himself.  Eleanor  had  been  replaced  by  Margaret 
Macdonnel  daughter  of  Angus,  and  the  king  had  cause  to  be  jealous 
of  the  growing  power  of  the  Scots  in  Ulster.  In  1542,  the  year  his 
rival  Con  exchanged  his  chieftainry  for  the  earldom  of  Tyrone, 
Manus  made  peace  with  the  deputy,  Avho  received  him  with  great  dis- 
tinction and  respect,  and  they  together  passed  through  Tyrone  to 
break  down  the  castle  of  Enniskillen,  when  Manus,  with  his  sons 
Calvagh  and  Hugh,  went  into  Connaught  to  collect  his  tribute. 
With  O'Eourke  and  O'Kane  he  crossed  the  Bann,  killed  or  houghed 
vast  herds  of  cattle,  driving  as  many  off,  the  despoiled  MacQuil- 
lins  buying  their  peace  with  horses,  armor  and  many  other  things 
beautiful  and  precious.  He  gave  Tura  and  Lurg  to  his  son-in-law 
Maguire,  receiving  in  return  the  I'ising  out  of  Fermanagh. 

But  his  power  had  its  limits  and  he  probably  felt  that  to  deprive  his 
tributaries  of  the  selection  of  their  chief  by  giving  up  his  position  as 
O'Donnel,  and  accepting  instead  an  earldom,  would  have  put  his  rule 
in  jeopardy.  His  brothers  were  numerous  and  powerful.  Hugh, 
learned  in  many  sciences,  distinguished  "for  his  munificence  and 
prowess  in  the  field  and  gap  of  danger  and  expected  from  his  steadi- 
ness of  character  to  obtain  the  chieftainship,"  had  died  in  1538.  Two 
other  brothers  Donogli  and  John  of  Lurg,  discontented  resorted  to 
arms,  when  John  being  captured  was  hung,  Donogh  and  Egneghan 
kept  in  fetters.  The  year  after,  at  the  great  council  at  Dublin  the 
chief  was  persuaded  to  set  them  at  liberty,  and  he  made  friends  with 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  303 

liis  brother  Con,  wlio  dwelt  at  tlie  Englisli  court  and  was  aLout  to 
return,  with  Avhoni  his  rehitions  had  been  vnifriendly. 

Manus  had  also  to  experience  filial  ingratitude.  He  had  entrusted 
his  strong  castle  of  Liiford  to  the  O'Gallaghers,  who  in  1543  disloy- 
ally held  it  for  his  second  son  Hugh.  Incensed  at  this  treachery 
and  unable  to  reduce  the  castle  without  ordnance,  he  wreaked  his  re- 
sentment by  devastations  and  taking  many  prisoners,  exacting  pledges 
from  O'Doherty  who  had  violated  his  jurisdiction  by  killing  his  kins- 
man Cahir.  Calvagh  eldest  son  of  ]\Ianus  applying  to  the  deputy 
for  guns  and  gunners  to  reduce  the  castle,  they  were  furnished  and 
the  hostages  of  Huiihwere  made  over  to  their  allies.  Soon  after  one 
of  the  gunners  being  slain,  perhaps  contrary  to  such  rules  of  war  as 
were  then  recognized,  one  of  these  hostages  Cahir  was  put  to  death, 
when,  to  save  the  life  of  the  other  Turlogh  son  of  Felim  Finn,  Lif- 
ford  was  surrendered.  AYhether  growing  out  of  these  animosities  or 
from  some  other  gi-ound  of  resentment,  in  1546  another  brother  of 
the  chief,  Donnell,  was  slain  by  O'Gallagher  and  his  wife  Honora  at 
Ballyshannon  "  to  the  great  grief  of  the  land,  for  of  all  the  descendants 
of  Conel  son  of  Nial,  there  was  not  one  of  his  years  from  whom 
more  was  expected  by  the  multitude." 

That  same  year  Brian  O'Conor,  brother-in-law  of  the  Kildares 
Thomas  and  Gerald,  who  had  been  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of 
that  half  the  island  where  he  ruled,  was  driven  out  of  Offaly  into 
Connaught.  Twice  did  the  deputy  harry  his  country,  and  after  in- 
viting the  chiefs  of  Offaly  to  come  in,  which  they  did,  he  treacherously 
plundered  them  of  thousands  of  cows.  O'Conor  and  O'Moore  were 
proclaimed  traitors  and  their  territories  transferred  to  the  king. 
What  became  of  Brian  Avill  be  related  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  Clan  Colman  his  neighbors  were  likewise  sore  distressed. 
War  and  devastation  prevailed  throughout  their  land,  cold  and  fam- 
ine, weeping  and  wringing  of  hands  throughout  their  habitations. 
Kedagh  had  been  inaugurated  in  opposition  to  Rury  who  plundered 


304  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Delvin,  whereupon  O'^NIaddens  and  MacCoglilans  pursued  and  slew 
thirteen  of  his  kinsmen.  The  contest  if  brief  while  it  lasted 
wrought  innumerable  evils,  and  ended  in  the  death  of  Rury  killed  by 
Dalton  in  the  interest  of  Kedagh. 

Whilst  the  land  was  generally  quiet,  war  between  the  O'Kanes  and 
MacQuillins,  dwelling  on  either  side  of  the  Bann  in  Ulster,  disturbed 
its  repose.  The  latter  with  their  allies  from  Scotland  were  defeated 
in  1543  and  driven  into  the  river,  but  regaining  courage,  and  helped 
by  Brabazon  governor  in  the  absence  of  St.  Leger,  stormed  Lima- 
vady  the  castle  of  the  enemy.  O'Donnel  interposed,  and  taking 
Loughlan  a  fortress  of  great  strength  commanding  the  fisheries, 
gave  it  to  O'Kane.  Occasional  feuds  occurred  among  the  O'Rourkes, 
MacSweenys  and  O'Boyles,  rival  asjjirants  for  their  respective  chief- 
tainships embruing  their  hands  in  fraternal  blood.  Con  and  Manus 
found  frequent  cause  for  dispute,  but  they  both  consented  in  1543 
to  relinquish  sovereignty  over  the  border  septs  outside  of  their  re- 
spective countries. 

When  the  next  year  Ulick  Burke  the  new  earl  of  Clanrickard, 
"  the  most  valiant  of  the  English  in  Connaught,"  died,  succession 
to  his  honors  and  domains  was  contested  between  Richard  his 
son  by  Grace  O'Carrol,  and  another  by  Maria  Lynch  named 
John,  who  claimed  that  Grace  had  not  been  legally  separated  from 
the  Melaghlin  her  former  husband.  Ormond  was  sent  with  other 
commissioners  to  settle  the  question  of  legitimacy  and  decided  in 
favor  of  the  elder  son,  wlio  being  under  age  for  rule,  Ulick  son  of 
Richard  Oge  was  made  captain  of  the  county.  Irritated  at  Ormond 
for  this  decision,  the  sons  of  Richard  defeated  him  at  Athenry,  Arch- 
deacon or  MacOda  anglicised  Cody  and  forty  more  being  slain. 

Later  in  the  year  the  king  engaged  in  war  with  France  applied  to 
the  Irish  council  for  three  thousand  kerns  ;  but  was  forced  to  content 
himself  with  one  third  that  number.  Ormond  provided  two  hundred, 
Desmond  six  score,  Tyrone  ninety,  O'Briens,  Carroll,  Moore,  Ma- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  305 

guire,  Roiirke,  Mulmoy,  MelagliHn,  none.  Reilly  supplied  eighty- 
nine,  Conor  thirty-eight,  Cahir  Cavanngh  only  twenty-one,  and  the 
deficiency  was  made  up  by  lords  of  the  pale.  No  galloglasses, 
mailed  warriors  armed  Avith  battle  axes,  were  sent ;  but  the  kernes 
who  were,  the  deputy  represented  to  the  king  to  be  excellent  gunners. 
Their  daring  and  efficiency  in  the  field  extorted  admu'ation  from  their 
foes,  wdio  inquired  if  they  were  devils  or  men.  After  many  feats  of 
valor  at  the  siege  of  Boulogne,  a  Frenchman  of  great  strength  and 
stature  challenging  any  of  the  opposite  side  to  single  combat,  one 
of  the  kerns  Xichol  Welch  swam  over,  cut  oflf  his  head  and  re- 
turned w'ith  it  in  his  teeth. 

In  earlier  times  when  safety  depended  upon  mutual  support  and 
due  subordination,  chiefs  of  inferior  power  were  content  to  admit 
their  obligations  of  fealty  and  pay  tribute  when  it  could  not  be 
avoided.  Under  changed  conditions  such  relations  grew  irksome,  and 
now  that  they  could  be  cast  off  with  impunity,  appeal  to  English  tribu- 
nals resulted  in  decrees  absolving  from  future  dependence.  Maguire, 
Magennis,  Tyrconnel  were  set  free  from  any  such  relation  to  Tyrone, 
Manus  being  still  however  held  to  pay  sixty  cows  each  year  to  Con, 
for  Inishowen.  Two  of  the  Cavanaghs,  Charles  Mac  Art  and  Gerald 
Mac  Cahir,  contending  for  supremacy  preferred  resort  to  the  old 
arbitrament  of  arms.  After  there  had  fallen  in  the  fight  a  hundred 
warriors  on  cither  side,  the  former  prevailed,  retaining  his  ascendancy 
till  under  Mary  he  was  created  baron  of  Balian. 

Brian  Gilpatrick,  unable  to  repress  the  turbulent  spirit  of  his  son  a 

distinguished  captain,  sent  him  to  Dublin  with  a  statement  of  his 

crimes,  where  he  was  put  to  death  at  the  request  of  his  father.     The 

O'Driscols  on   the  south   shore   of   the  island  were    less  inclined  to 

amity  or    acknowledgment  of  English  rule.     The  waters  near  by 

their  abode  at  Baltimore  afforded  them  sources  of  revenue,  and  they 

asserted  their  maritime  rights  wdth  vigor.     A  Waterford  ship  laden 

with  wines  from  Portugal,  driven   by  stress  of  weather  into  their 
39 


306  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

haven,  for  some  cause  not  stated  was  seized.  The  merchants  of 
Watcrford  sent  two  ships  and  a  galley  with  four  hundred  men  to 
make  reprisals,  who  plundered  their  country  and  razed  to  the  ground 
their  principal  fortress. 

The  MacCarthies  and  their  kindred  chieftains  were  not  inclined  to 
conciliate  royal  favor  or  share  in  the  honors  bestowed.  Eleanor  after 
her  ill  omened  marriage  with  Manus  of  Tyrconnel  had  returned  to 
her  home  at  Kilbrittain.  Her  four  sons,  Cormac-na-haoine,  Florence, 
Donogh,  and  Owen,  each  in  turn  ruled  over  Carbery.  They  had 
intermarried  with  the  daughters  of  Cormac  Oge  of  Muskerry, 
MacCarthy  Mor,  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  brother  of  the  earl  of  Des- 
mond, and  Dermod  O'Callaghan.  Her  daughters,  Catharine  wife  of 
the  ruling  chief  of  Blarney,  Julia  of  the  prince  of  Beare,  Eleanor 
of  Connor  O'Meagher  of  Ikerrin,  extended  her  influence,  which  in 
the  next  generation,  then  or  afterwards,  gained  additional  strength 
from  alliances  with  O'Driscols,  O'Donovans,  O'Donoghues,  Povrers, 
Barry s  and  Fitzgibbons.  These  all  powerful  families  in  Munster 
shared  in  her  resentment  against  the  king  for  the  execution  of  her 
brothers  and  her  nephew.  Expectations  were  indulged  that  Gerald 
with  fifteen  thousand  men  would  soon  effect  a  landing  on  the  coast. 
But  he  was  engaged  in  Malta  or  fighting  the  Moors,  and  not  ap- 
pearing there  or  in  Ulster,  where  it  was  also  supposed  he  might  come, 
their  zeal  gradually  abated.  Eleanor  herself  became  discouraged,  and 
too  sensible  to  persist  against  hope  to  the  prejudice  of  her  children 
made  overtures  for  reconciliation.  Her  letter  to  the  king  in  1545, 
proffering  allegiance,  and  requesting  pardon,  received  a  favorable 
response.  How  much  longer  she  survived  does  not  appear,  but  as 
her  marriage  with  Donal  Reagh  must  have  taken  place  near  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century  she  was  no  longer  young. 

In  the  November  following  her  submission,  an  expedition  against 
Dunbarton  under  Ormond  and  Lennox  left  Dublin,  but  met  with  a 
storm,  and  when  they  gained  the  Scotch  coast  the  adherents  pro- 


T  U  A  N  S  F  E  R     OF     E  li  I  N  .  307 

miscd  were  not  tliere.  When  later  ]\Iac  Donald  lord  of  the  isles 
joined  them  with  his  fleet,  such  formidable  preparations  had  already 
been  made  to  oppose  them  that  they  returned  to  Carrickfergus,  and 
from  thence  fought  their  way  by  land  through  hostile  septs  to  Dundalk. 

Great  expectations  having  been  entertained  of  success,  this  inglo- 
rious termination  of  a  costly  enterprise  afforded  the  enemies  of 
Ormond  in  the  council  an  opportunity  they  were  not  disposed  to  forego. 
Allen  lord  chancellor  an  intriguer  stirred  up  strife  between  the  earl 
and  the  deputy.  "  English  power  was  then  greater  in  Ireland  than 
ever  before.  Leath  Moglia  was  in  bondage."  Precious  metals  from 
America  had  not  yet  reached  Europe  in  sufficient  quantities  to  meet  the 
growing  need,  and  copper  coin  was  compelled  to  be  taken  as  silver. 
Pieces  bearing  the  national  emblem  of  the  harp  were  broken  up.  The 
people  were  generally  impoverished  and  excitable.  Tlie  council  pro- 
posed a  tax,  which  was  supported  by  Allen  and  the  deputy  and 
opposed  by  Ormond.  Angry  contention  led  to  complaint  home,  and 
the  three  were  summoned  to  court.  After  a  hearing  before  the 
council,  Allen,  who  had  declared  that  only  one  of  them  should  re- 
turn to  Ireland,  was  condemned  for  equivocation  and  on  other  charges 
and  imjDrisoned  in  the  Fleet. 

Ormond  and  St.  Leger  were  reconciled,  but  the  former  at  a  splen- 
did banquet  at  Ely  House  in  Holborn  with  thirty-five  of  his  fol- 
lowers partook  of  meats  that  were  poisoned,  which  proved  fatal  to 
half  their  number,  and  among  them  to  the  earl.  He  was  greatly  la- 
mented by  his  countrymen  and  would  seem  to  have  merited  their 
affection,  though  his  readiness,  in  1534,  Avith  his  father  to  throw 
off  allegiance  to  the  church,  lessened  their  regard.  In  1543  he  had 
been  directed  to  visit  Tipperary,  Waterford,  Cork,  Kerry,  Ormond 
and  Desmond,  imprisoning  whom  he  saw  fit,  and  his  exercise  of  this 
authority  provoked  complaint,  but  he  was  generally  not  only  prudent 
and  politic,  but  generous  and  of  a  nature  highly  honorable  and  loyal. 

His  mother  "great  countess  of  Ormond,"  sister  of  Eleanor  and  of 


308  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Alice  wife  of  Tyrone,  daughters  of  the  eighth  Kiklare,  after  fifty-five 
years  of  married  life  was  dead.  As  maternal  traits  often  descend,  the 
following  tribute  by  Stanihurst  to  this  remarkable  woman  may  prove 
of  interest.  "  Her  husband,"  the  seventh  earl  Pierce  Roe,  "  washimself 
a  plain  and  simple  gentleman,  saving  in  feats  of  arms;  and  yet, 
nevertheless,  he  bare  out  the  honor  and  charge  of  his  government 
very  worthily  through  the  wisdom  of  his  countess ;  a  lady  of  such 
port  that  all  the  estates  of  the  realm  crouched  under  her ;  so  politic 
that  nothing  was  thought  substantially  debated  without  her  advice ; 
she  was  manlike  and  tall  of  stature  ;  very  liberal  and  bountiful ;  a 
secure  friend,  a  bitter  enemy;  hardly  disliking,  where  she  fancied, 
not  easily  fancying  where  she  disliked."  Her  six  daughters,  by  mar- 
riage with  persons  of  rank  and  power  increased  the  influence  of  the 
Ormonds,  and  the  poisoned  earl's  wife  Joan,  the  only  child  of  the 
eleventh  Desmond,  added  Clonmel  and  other  important  possessions  to 
his  extensive  domains.  Joan  married  after  his  death,  Sir  Francis 
Bryan  and  Gerald  sixteenth  earl  of  Desmond,  the  last  of  whom  she 
left  a  widower  in  1562.  From  her  seven  sons  by  James  who  was 
the  ninth  Ormond  descended  a  numerous  posterity. 

Cromwell  as  domineering  as  Oliver,*  his  nephew  thrice  removed, 
made  many  enemies.  It  was  a  sad  blunder  for  him  to  have  selected 
for  political  objects  so  unhandsome  a  wife  for  the  king  as  Ann  of 
Cleves.  Arrested  at  the  council  table  by  Norfolk,  in  July,  1540,  ten 
years  after  the  death  of  Wolsey,  he  had  expiated  both  this  blunder  and 
numberless  cruelties  and  crimes  in  the  pretended  cause  of  reli- 
gion on  the  scaffold.  Catherine  Howard  two  years  later  followed 
him  to  the  block,  and  the  sixth  royal  venture  in  matrimony,  Cathe- 
rine Parr,  widow  of  Lord  Latimer,  before  another  twelvemonth  occu- 
pied her  place.  She  paid  dearly  for  her  elevation  in  what  she  had 
to  endure  from  the  irascible  temper  of  her  husband,  but  luckily  sur- 
vived him.     Norfolk  and   Surrey  his  son  retained  their  influence  till 

*  Richard  Williams  son  of  his  sister  assumed  her  maiden  name,  and  was  great-grand- 
father of  both  Oliver  Cromwell,  and  of  John  Hampden. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIX.  3.09 

near  the  close  of  the  reign .  Norfolk  labored  assiduously  to  reform 
the  old  religion  without  destroying-  it,  hut  the  council  of  Trent  in 
1540  and  establishment  of  the  inquisition  in  Flanders  bai'red  the  door 
against  England's  return  within  its  fold.  He  in  turn  lost  favor,  and 
with  his  son  was  cast  into  the  tower.  The  fiat  for  his  execution,  actu- 
ally issued,  was  stayed  by  the  royal  demise,  but  he  did  not  recover 
Ills  liberty  till  Mary  was  queen. 

INIajesty  swolu  with  indulgence  and  racked  with  pain  its  penalty, 
savage  and  furious,  an  object  of  resentment  at  the  many  hearths 
he  had  left  desolate,  of  dread  to  all  within  compass  of  his  ii-e, 
never,  as  Raleigh  says  of  him,  having  spared  woman  in  his  passion, 
or  man  in  his  wrath,  brutal  and  wretched  and  universally  abhorred, 
the  sorry  spectacle  oiFered  a  gloomy  contrast  to  the  brilliant 
promise  that  greeted  him  as  he  mounted  the  throne  thirty-eight  years 
before.  Denny  had  courage  to  tell  him  his  death  was  nigh  ;  Cran- 
mer  arrived  but  in  season  to  obtain  some  slight  recognition  as  he 
passed,  and  England  was  relieved  from  her  burden. 

The  jieople  of  the  sister  island  had  little  more  cause  to  mourn  the 
loss  of  a  monarch  under  whose  arbitrary  rule  they  had  so  long  been 
groaning,  and  which  but  for  dissensions  amongst  themselves  they 
might  have  shaken  oiF.  They  possessed  religious  institutions 
well  suited  to  their  needs  to  which  they  were  attached.  Not 
one  in  twelve,  even  in  England,  were  then  protestants.  Across 
the  channel  his  supremacy  as  head  of  the  church  had  been  recognized, 
but  few  had  changed  their  faith.  The  suppression  of  the  conventual 
establishments,  if  welcome  to  chiefs  sharing  in  their  confiscated 
property,  proved  an  unmitigated  calamity  to  the  people.  The  substi- 
tution menaced  of  English  prayers  for  Latin,  to  wliich  use  had  asso- 
ciated a  meaning,  would  virtually  operate  to  exclude  them  from  parti- 
cipation in  religious  Avorship,  and  if  addicted  to  Avar  they  were  still 
devout.  They  would  be  deprived  of  a  principal  enjoyment,  since 
church  festivals  formed  an  important  part  of  their  life. 


310  TRANSFER      or      ERIN. 

In  the  eorlier  part  of  his  reign,  new  foundations,  or  pious  gifts  to 
those  already  establislied  proved  the  religious  sentiment  in  full  glow. 
At  its  close,  monks  and  nuns  with  saddened  hearts  were  driven  from 
the  cloister  into  a  world  strange  and  unnatural.  Their  ancient  abodes 
fell  into  dilapidation  or  were  changed  into  fortresses.  Finglas,  chief 
justice  in  1534,  in  his  breviate  recommended  that  Tyntern,  Dowske, 
Baltinglas  and  Graney  be  given  with  baronies  to  young  men  to 
guard  the  marches,  as  also  the  castles  of  old  Ross  in  Bantry  "a  liv- 
ing for  a  lord,"  Leaghlin,  Carlow,  Femes,  Keating,  Powerscourt, 
Wicklow  and  Arklow  ;  and  that  the  territory  east  of  the  line  from  Dub- 
lin to  Waterford  be  taken  from  the  Cavanaghs,  Byrnes  and  Tooles  who 
had  not  more  than  four  hundred  horsemen  among  them.  There  were 
then  in  Ireland  five  hundred  castles  outside  the  towns,  a  large  share 
held  by  Englishmen,  whose  armor  and  weapons  were  superior  to  their 
enemies,  and  Finglas  suggests  that  the  army  be  made  still  more  effi- 
cient. Hostings  should  be  divided  into  wards,  front,  rear  and  middle, 
and  led  by  captains  chosen  annually  by  their  soldiers,  who  should  be 
enjoined  not  to  stray  from  their  banners  of  which  the  number  was  too 
large,  and  who  should  practise  with  bow  and  arrow  on  holidays. 

The  customs  and  excise  or  livery  he  says  required  reform.  The 
latter  should  be  collected  by  the  royal  harbinger,  and  his  bills 
have  as  a  distinctive  mark  a  horsehead.  Hides  ought  not  to  be  ex- 
ported except  in  exchange  for  cargoes  of  wheat,  salt,  iron  or  wines, 
nor  wheat  when  more  than  a  shilling  a  peck,  nor  hawk  nor  horse. 
Bread,  ale  and  whiskey  might  be  sold  to  the  Irish,  the  latter  perhaps 
to  make  them  easier  to  conquer.  The  adulterated  coin  should 
be  called  in  and  re^^laced  with  what  was  equal  to  five  pence  a  groat. 
The  scarcity  of  money  is  shown  by  ale  selling  two  pence  a  gallon, 
which  was  also  the  price  for  a  full  meal  for  a  soldier.  He  recommends 
merchants'  wives  not  to  frequent  alehouses,  but  weave  and  spin  wool 
and  linen  at  home.  He  says  the  Irish  respected  their  laws  made 
on  the  hillside,  but  the  English  forgot  and  violated  theirs  after  eight 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  311 

days.  To  anotlici-  work  of  the  period  representing  grievances  of  tlie 
people  from  the  forced  visits  of  their  hmdlords,  alkision  has  ah-eady 
been  made.*  There  were  other  troubles.  Tempests  of  extraordinary 
violence  in  1545  prostrated  walls  at  Clonmacnois,  other  monasteries 
and  churches,  and  many  buildings  of  lesser  worth.  Dearth  of  pro- 
visions, sixpence  of  the  old  money  in  Connaught,  in  white  money 
in  Meath,  buying  only  one  small  cake  of  bread,  also  created  distress. 

The  prevalence  of  letters  at  this  period  among  the  people  and 
their  habits  of  study,  are  curiously  illustrated  by  Campion,  who 
writes  a  few  years  later  that  "  Irish  scholars  spoke  Latin  like  a  vul- 
gar language,  learned  in  their  common  schools  of  physic  and  law, 
whereat  they  began  as  children  and  held  on  sixteen  or  twenty  years, 
conning  by  rote  the  aphorisms  of  Hypocrates,  the  civil  institutes  of 
Justinian  and  a  few  other  parings  of  these  two  faculties.  Chairs 
did  not  abound  where  devastations  were  so  perpetual,  and  ten  stu- 
dents in  a  chamber  prostrate  on  couches  of  straw,  their  books  to  their 
noses,  chanted  their  lessons  by  piece  meal,  being  the  most  part  lusty 
fellows  of  twenty-five  years  and  upwards." 

Familiar  names  of  poets,  brehons,  ollavs  and  other  learned  men  who 
receive  brief  notice  as  they  pass  serve  also  to  show  that  very  far  from 
lapsing  into  barbarism  the  country  found  time  in  the  intervals  of  war 
to  cultivate  the  arts  of  peace.  The  year  after  the  accession  of  Henry 
are  mentioned  Farrel  O'Fealan,  distinguished  professor  of  poetry, 
and  Owen  Higgin  its  chief  preceptor  throughout  the  island.  In 
that  which  followed,  Duigenan,  "affluent  and  learned  in  history,  and 
MacBrady,  twenty  years  bishop  of  the  BreiFneys,  the  only  dignitary 
both  races  obeyed,  a  paragon  of  wisdom  and  piety,  enlightening  laity 
and  clergy  by  his  instruction  and  preaching,  a  foithful  shepherd  or- 
daining priests  and  consecrating  churches  and  bountiful  to  poor  and 
mighty  ;"  O'Clery,  O'Daly  of  Corcumroe  and  Hosey,  poets  who  kept 
houses  of  hospitality.     In  1519  died  Martin  Mulconry,  ollav  of  Sil 

*  See  p.  123,  ante. 


312  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

Murray,  selected  by  the  Geraldines  and  other  English  as  their  legal 
adviser  who  obtained  all  the  jewels  and  wealth  that  he  asked  for ; 
O'Curran  the  confidential  friend  of  O'Rourke.  In  the  next  ten 
years  are  noted  Cassidy  ollav  in  physic  to  Maguire  and  O'Breslen  his 
oUav  in  judicature  ;  O'Corcoran  learned  in  canon  law,  Con  and.Gilla 
O'Clery ,  adepts  in  history,  poetry  and  literature,  of  great  consideration, 
wealth  and  power ;  MacEgan  head  of  Leath  Moglia  in  fenaclias  and 
poetry. 

Another  decade  embalms  the  memory  of  MacWard,  a  learned  poet, 
surpassing  all  others  in  humanity  and  charitable  deeds  ;  ISIacKeogh 
intended  ollav  of  Leinster,  skilled  in  various  arts,  killed  accidentally 
by  the  O'Tooles  his  uncles  ;  another  O'Higgin,  chief  preceptor  of 
poetry  in  Scotland  as  well  as  in  his  own  country  ;  in  the  last  under 
Henry,  MacWard  ollav  to  O'Donnel  in  poetry  and  superintendent  of 
schools,  not  excelled  in  poetry  or  other  arts  ;  Mac  Namee  rich  and 
affluent,  proficient  in  poetry  and  literature,  "cursed  by  O'Rourke  for 
striking  the  great  cross  ;  "  Mulconry  "  by  whom  many  books  had  been 
transcribed,  poems  and  lays  composed,  of  great  wealth  and  influence, 
who  had  kept  many  schools,  several  in  his  own  house,  superintend- 
ing and  teaching ; "  Morrissey,  another  master  of  schools  and  general 
lecturer,  and  Donnel  son  of  Mac  Gonigle,  great  official  in  Donegal ; 
O'Colby  also  a  preceptor  taken  prisoner  by  the  English,  who 
would  have  been  put  to  death  for  attachment  to  his  own  countrymen, 
had  he  not  after  confinement  for  eighteen  weeks  effected  his  escape. 

Some  few  ladies  mentioned  when  they  died  by  the  annalists, 
afford  some  notion  of  what  in  those  days  constituted  the  standard  of 
feminine  excellence.  Graine,  mother  of  Maguire,  was  noted  for 
her  bounty  and  generous  hospitality ;  Mary  O'Malley,  wife  of  Mac 
Sweeny  Fanad,  best  wife  for  a  constable  or  soldier ;  Gormley, 
daughter  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  and  wife  of  Hugh  O'Neil,  who 
bestowed  many  gifts  on  the  orders  and  churches,  literary  men  and 
others,  which  was  to  be  expected,  as  she  had  a  mother  worthy  of 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  313 

her;  Evelyn,  daughter  of  the  knight  of  Glynn,  wife  of  O'Conor 
Kerry ;  Catharine,  daughter  of  Con  O'Neil,  whose  husbands  were 
O'Reilly  and  O'Rourke  ;  Finola,  daughter  of  Conor  O'Brien,  wife 
of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnel,  "who  had  regarded  body  and  soul,  and 
gained  more  renown  than  any  of  her  cotemporaries,  having  spent 
her  life  and  wealth  in  acts  of  charity  ;  "  Rose  O'Boyle,  charitable  and 
hospitable  ;  Julia  O'Fallon,  "  a  beautiful  woman,"  wife  of  Carberry  ; 
Mary  MacSweeny,  daughter  of  O'Boyle,  killed  by  being  thrown 
from  her  horse  at  her  castle  gate  ;  Judith,  daughter  of  Con  IVIor 
O'Xeil,  at  the  age  of  forty-two  in  1535,  wife  of  Manus  O'Donnel, 
pious  and  devout ;  and  in  1544,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Angus  Mac 
Donnel  of  the  isles,  his  third  wife ;  Celia  his  daughter,  wife  of 
O'Boyle,  and  Mary  Magauran,  wife  of  MacClancy. 

These  names  have  been  preserved.  IMany  more  over  the  land  of 
either  sex  of  equal  claim  to  be  remembered  for  culture,  refinement 
and  estimable  trait  might  be  collected  to  remove  impressions  studi- 
ously conveyed  by  English  writers.  What  race,  if  uneducated, 
impoverished  and  trampled  upon,  but  becomes  wild  and  savage? 
Greeks  and  Romans  became  degenerate.  If  battles  and  hostings  av- 
eraged three  a  year,  more  than  one  hundred  independent  sovereignties 
had  their  quarrels  as  larger  states.  Chance  medleys,  where  injustice 
provoked  resentment,  explain  in  part  "  the  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight  murders  in  a  generation."  Wherever  men  went  armed  as  in 
Scotland,  and  in  England  down  to  the  last  century,  wearing  swords 
as  part  of  their  apparel,  deaths  by  violence  from  temper  or  depravity 
of  nature  occun-ed  in  like  proportion. 

If  not  well  lodged,  Tyrconnel's  abode,  O'Connor's  at  Dengen,  Mc- 
Carthys' were  noble  piles,  and  the  poorer  clansmens  as  good  as  they 
could  get  and  keep.  A  great  nation  across  the  channel  prevented 
effective  resistance  to  systematic  plans  of  conquest,  which  stretched 
through  the  centuries,  improving  opportunity  for  force,  or  as  bishop 

Rokeby  wrote  in  1520,  for  politic  practices  more  efficacious,  enfeebling 
40 


314  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

the  septs  "  by  getting  away  their  captains  and  putting  division  between 
them."  Anulo  nobles  racked  their  tenants,  farmers,  masons  and  car- 
penters,  exacting  coyne  and  livery,  foy  and  pay,  codies  and  coshies, 
bonaghts,  myrtieght  and  kintroisk  of  beeves,  blackmen  and  black 
money,  mustrons  and  carriages,  for  private  purposes,  bread  and  butter 
for  their  dogs  when  they  hunted,  sheep  and  cows,  when  sons  went  to 
England,  daughter  married  or  neighbor  came  to  visit.  They  regra- 
ted  and  forestalled,  impeded  navigation  by  weirs,  took  fee  or  fine  for 
fishing,  tapped  casks  as  they  crossed  the  ferry  ;  held  no  courts,  and 
mulcted  whoever  sought  justice  anywhere  else.  Tormented  both  by 
feudal  and  brehon  impositions,  the  lands  of  English  yeomen  were  at 
last  left  waste,  and  becoming  themselves  armed  retainers  they  were 
little  better  than  bandits  of  Italy  or  Greece. 

Convents  in  England  were  much  demoralized,  but  no  such  charge 
waspretended  against  the  Irish.  Under  Henry,  six  had  been  founded , 
five  of  them  Franciscans,  one  by  O'Rourke,  another  by  O'Neil  and 
two  by  MacDonnel.  Of  the  suppressed,  three  hundred  of  the  rule 
of  St.  Benedict  or  St.  Augustine  afforded  shelter  for  the  peaceable 
or  infirm,  male  and  female  ;  nearly  tAvo  hundred  of  the  mendicant 
order,  Franciscan  and  Carmelite,  supplied  preachers  for  the  poor  and 
sorrowing,  with  whom  they  prayed.  Seventy-two  long  escaped 
notice.  None  of  them  were  rich.  Their  movables  realized  less  than 
three  thousand  j^ounds  instead  of  one  hundred  thousand  as  expected. 
Stipends  of  less  than  thirteen  hundred  were  allowed  the  dispossessed,  of 
which  five  hundred  went  to  the  grand  prior  of  Jerusalem.  At  that 
time  the  whole  revenue  of  Ireland  fell  short  of  eight  thousand 
pounds,  three-quarters  of  Avhich  came  from  crown  lands.  The  oflS- 
cial  salaries  of  the  pale,  twenty  miles  square,  exceeded  the  compen- 
sation to  the  orders  expelled.  Irish  convents  and  English  on  the 
island,  though  alike  in  faith  and  rule,  had  never  been  friendly  dis- 
posed towards  each  other,  and  excluded  from  fellowship  those  of 
opposite  race. 


TliANSFEROFEKIN.  315 

No  distinction  was  now  made.  All  were  driven  forth.  Tlie  men- 
dicant orders,  pious  and  devout,  still  continued  their  vocation.  They 
were  welcome  in  every  cot.  Gaelic  was  the  one  tongue  and  that 
they  understood  as  well  as  Latin.  Machiavelli  wrote,  the  nearer 
to  church  the  less  Christianity  ;  there  was  misery  enough  to  need 
divine  assistance,  and  it  could  be  implored  with  as  much  fervor  on 
the  hill  top  as  kneeling  at  the  altar.  The  decree  of  1539  des- 
poiled alike  not  only  English  and  Irish,  but  those  who  administered  to 
the  necessities  of  others  as  well  as  those  who  subsisted  on  alms  them- 
selves. There  was  some  resistance.  The  monks  of  Monaghan,  Cor- 
nelius bishop  of  Down,  a  Geraldine  celebrated  for  his  pulpit  eloquence, 
father  Robert  of  Atheree,  the  prior  of  Limerick,  were  slaughtered 
refusing  to  suri'cnder  their  temporalities,  but  for  the  most  part  resist- 
ance was  seen  to  be  useless  and  the  superiors  released  to  the  crown 
as  they  were  bid. 


XXXI. 

REIGX  OF  EDWARD  VI. — 1547-1553. 
Henry  YIII.  closed  liis  feverish  life  and  reign  January  28,  1547, 
two  years  more  than  a  century  before  his  gr.  gr.  nephew,  the 
unfortunate  Chai'les,  expiated  his  arbitrary  rule  on  the  scaffold.  This 
husband  of  six  wives,  two  of  whom  he  beheaded,  left  three  children, 
Edward,  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  Avho  each  in  turn  succeeded  and  died 
childless.  During  their  reigns,  what  remained  of  Irish  independence 
virtually  ended.  The  reformation  confiscated  the  property  set  apart 
for  religious  uses,  banished,  tortured  and  hung  the  priests.  Substi- 
tution of  English  titles  for  ancient  chieftainries,  surrender  of  land 
and  rule  and  grants  back  on  English  tenure  cut  off  collateral  heirs, 
fomented  jealousies  and  endless  war.  Capable  but  unscrupulous 
governors,  St.  Leger,  Bellingham,  Sussex,  Sydney,  FitzAVilliams, 


316  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

Grey,  Perrot,  Russell,  Borough,  Essex,  Mountjoy,  held    successive 
sway  as  lords  lieutenant,  deputies  or  justices.     Perrot,  Felton,  Malby, 
Drury,  Norris,  Bingham,  Clifford,  Carew,  were  presidents  of  Mun- 
ster,  or  Connaught.    Bellingham,  Norris,  Bagnal,  Essex  commanded 
the  forces,  and  other  personages  more  or  less  famous,  Morrison, 
Raleigh,  Harvey,  Norris,  Randolph,  and  Zouch,  took  part  in  military 
movements.     It  was  a  stirring  and  interesting  period.     Poor  Ireland 
was  in  its  last  throes,  and  it  is  sad  to  see  how  often  she  might  have  es- 
caped her  fate  had  her  children  been  as  united  as  they  were  courageous* 
Edward  ascended  the  throne  at  the  age  of  nine,  in  gentleness  and 
amiability  a  marked  contrast  to  his  father.     As  his  reign  ended  in 
his  sixteenth  year,  when  he  died  of  consumption,  in  July,  1553,  he 
exerted  little  influence  over  events.    The  sixteen  councillors  appointed 
by  the  late  king's  will  to  administer  affairs  during  his  minority  con- 
sisted of  Cranmer,  Southampton,  St.  John,  Russell,  Hertford,  Lisle, 
Tonstall,  Browne,  Paget,  Forth,  Montague,  Bromley,  Denny,  Her- 
bert and  the  two  Wottons,  and  they  selected  Hertford,  created  duke 
of  Somerset  as  the  president  of  the  council,  and  soon  after  constituted 
him  protector  of  the  realm  and  guardian  of  his  nephew.      His  arbi- 
trary proceedings,  unscrupulous  appropriation  of  lands  and  material 
taken  from  sacred  edifices  he  destroyed  to  build  Somerset  House, 
the  persecution  of  his  accomplished  brother  Thomas  of  Sudely  whose 
death  warrant  he  signed  with  his  own  hand,  lost  him  favor  with  king 
and  people,  and  Northumberland  and  his  other  enemies,  depriving 
him  a  second  time  of  power  he  had  abused,  brought  him  to  the  scaffold- 
Ireland  was  little  affected  by  these  contentions  in  the  English  council. 
St.  Leger  was  continued  as  deputy  for  the  first  year  of  the  reign, 
making  way  for  Sir  Edward  Bellingham  in  May,  1548. 

Allen,  again  returned,  in  order  to  supplant  or  displace  St.  Leger, 
alleged  that  under  his  rule  the  pale  had  been  neither  extended 
nor  strengthened  nor  the  royal  writ  caused  to  be  respected  beyond 
its  limits ;  that  the  chiefs  under  professions  of  obedience  had  but 


T  11  A  N  S  F  E  R     O  r      ERIN.  317 

grown  more  formidable.     Leinster  was  not  reformed.     Ulster  chiefs 
allowed  to  carry  on  hostilities  unmolested  were  gradually  reducing 
to  their  obedience  the  smaller  septs  in  their  neighborhood.     Com- 
pacts were  not  enforced, — no  roads  constructed  as  stipulated, — their 
old  laws  and  customs  were  retained.     To  which  the  deputy  in   his 
defence  responded  that  the  horsemen  of  the  Cavanaghs  and  O'Con- 
nors were  reduced  to  a  fourth  of  what  they  were  before  he  came,  and 
that  all  the  country  of  the  O'Moores  could  not  muster  as  many  as 
rode  in  daily  attendance  on  their  late  chief;  that  the  O'Tooles  were 
utterly  broken,  and  where,  when  he  took  charge  of  the  government, 
no  man  could  travel  from  Casliel  to  Limerick  without  a  pass,  or  pay- 
ment of  a  crown  for  every  pack,  now  nothing  was  paid,  and  sheriffs 
duly  chosen  executed  process.     An  O'Toole  was  sheriff  of  Dublin, 
the  O'Byrnes  had  one  of  their  own.     That  it  had  been  proposed 
to  dispossess  these  septs,   and  likewise  the  Cavanaghs,   but  it  was 
considered  more  prudent  to  conciliate  them  than  raise  a  general  fer- 
ment by  their  expulsion.     Allen  further  insisted  the  Irish  were  faith- 
less to  their  promises,  to  which  St.  Leger  replied  that  the  English- 
men did  not  keep  theirs. 

When  the  deputy  resumed  his  office,  two  nephews  of  the  late  earl 
of  Kildare  harried  the  pale  burning  Rathanagan,  but  with  fourteen 
other  leaders  they  were  captured  and  executed.  Kellys  and  Mad- 
dens were  at  feud,  O'Connors  and  O'Moores.  Richard  and  Thomas 
Fitzeustace  with  their  father  viscount  Baltinglas,  staunch  catholics, 
incensed  at  interference  with  their  religious  rights,  took  up  arms 
but  soon  yielded  to  the  superior  force  arrayed  against  them  by  the 
deputy.  Edward  Bellingham  sent  over  with  a  thousand  men  as  mar- 
shal, twice  invaded  Offaly  and  Leix,  drove  the  inhabitants  into 
Connaught,  declaring  their  territory  forfeited,  and  had  the  credit  of 
being  the  first  since  Henry  III.  to  extend  the  pale.  These  two 
countries  were  near  the  capital  and  often  harried  without  provocation. 
Their  soil  fertile  and  well  tilled,  when  their  crops  were  destroyed  and 


318  T  R  A  N  S  r  E  R     O  r     E  R  I  N  . 

their  habitations,  which  elicited  admiration  from  their  invaders,  were 
burnt,  retahation  naturally  followed.  Their  neighbors  of  the  pale 
who  coveted  their  possessions  easily  contrived  to  put  them  in  the 
wrong.  The  marshal  Avas  rewarded  by  knighthood,  and  soon  after 
by  the  intrigues  of  the  council  against  St.  Leger,  whose  integrity  of 
character  and  moderation  thwarted  their  projects,  appointed  deputy. 

Gilpatrick  O'Moore  and  Brian  O'Conor,  after  holding  out  for  a 
twelvemonth  surrendered  to  Sir  Francis  Bryan.  Their  surrender  was 
on  their  own  terms,  but "  it  proved  a  poor  protection."  Carried  to  Lon- 
don by  St.  Leger  they  were  thrown  into  prison.  When  released 
they  were  allowed  annuities  of  one  hundred  pounds  each,  but 
not  permitted  to  return  home.  Their  confiscated  dominions  were  par- 
celled out  by  the  crown  among  Bryan  and  his  kinsmen,  who  erect- 
ing castles  at  Deugen  and  Campo,  leased  the  lands  as  of  their 
own  inheritance,  driving  out  the  inhabitants.  O'Moore  died  before 
his  annuity  could  avail  him.  O'Conor  survived  to  return  under 
Mary,  from  whom  the  intercession  of  his  daughter  Margaret  and  in- 
fluence of  her  Geraldine  kinsfolk  obtained  his  release. 

This  confiscation  without  precedent  in  later  years,  for  Morogh  and 
Donogh  in  accepting  English  titles  had  relinquished  their  claim  to 
Thomond  east  and  south  of  the  Shannon,  inaugurated  anew  the  poli- 
cy of  conquest.  The  right  of  the  septs  to  their  territories,  which 
for  the  first  century  after  the  invasion  had  been  disregarded,  had 
since  with  rare  exception  been  respected,  not  from  any  scruple  but 
because  they  were  too  powerful  to  disturb.  Propositions  had  occasion- 
ally been  entertained  for  their  extermination,  but  not  attempted  to  be 
carried  out.  They  had  at  last  been  persuaded  to  recognize  the  su- 
premacy of  the  English  monarch,  and  this  confiscation  was  its  first 
fruits.  They  perhaps  awoke  slowly  to  the  full  extent  of  what  it 
poi'tended,  but  their  confidence  in  the  honest  intentions  of  English 
rule  sustained  a  rude  shock.  It  suggested  to  those  who  reflected 
what  was  to  follow  and  justified  animosities,  which  have  ever  since 


TKAXSFEK      OF      EKIX.  319 

embiticred  the  rclatious  of  the  two  races  and  ffustrated  tlie  avcII 
meaning  but  inadequate  measures  to  consolidate  them  into  one 
nationaHty. 

The  deputy  was  prudent  and  active.  Pie  tore  from  his  fireside  at 
Kihnallock  the  fourteenth  Desmond  who  woukl  not  come  when 
summoned,  and  carried  him  to  Dublin.  The  earl  was  compelled 
to  conform  his  mannCiS,  apparel  and  behavior  to  his  estate  and 
degree,  and  down  to  his  death  in  1558  giving  no  further  trouble, 
daily  prayed  for  the  good  Bellingham.  Notwithstanding  the  vigor 
of  his  administration,  perhaps  from  not  being  sufficiently  subservient 
to  the  schemes  of  the  council,  he  made  enemies  and  was  recalled. 
Sir  Francis  Bryan,  Avhohad  extensive  grants  in  Leix  and  Offaly,  and 
whose  wife,  widow  of  the  ninth  Ormond  was  daughter  of  the  eleventh 
Desmond,  and  subsequently  wife  of  the  fifteenth,  was  appointed  in 
his  stead.  Upon  his  death  in  1549  at  Clonmel,  Brabazon  suc- 
ceeded, receiving  the  submission  of  O'Carrol  and  adjusting  disputes 
between  the  earls  of  Desmond  and  Thomond  about  their  boundary. 

In  the  following  September  St.  Leger  came  back  as  lord  lieutenant, 
and  to  him  MacCarthy  made  professions  of  amity,  and  Charles 
MacArt  Cavanagh  who  had  been  proclaimed  a  traitor  submitted, 
the  four  earls  of  Desmond,  Tyrone,  Thomond  and  Clanrickard, 
Richard,  brother  of  the  ninth  Ormond,  now  lord  Mountgarret,  and 
lord  Dunboyne,  being  present.  Cavanagh  had  better  have  fought 
on,  since  he  was  stripped  of  most  of  his  territory.  St.  Leger, 
accused  of  lukewarmness  in  the  cause  of  the  reformation,  was  re- 
placed in  May,  1551,  by  Sir  James  Crofts,  who  for  the  next  two 
years  retained  the  office  of  deputy,  making  way  towards  the  close  of 
the  reign  of  Edward  for  Sir  Thomas  Cusack,  successor  of  John 
Allen  as  chancellor,  and  Gerald  Aylmer  as  lords  justices. 

O'Melaghlin,  in  1548,  invited  Edmund  Fay  with  an  English 
force  into  Delvin.  Fay  sent  back  to  Dublin  one  of  the  sept,  who 
had  accompanied  him,  as  a  hostage.     Kincora  and  Gallen  were  cap- 


320  T  K  A  N  S  F  E  li      OF      E  K  I  N  . 

tured,  and  the  chief  found  he  had  brought  a  rod  into  his  country  to 
his  own  hurt,  for  Fay  banished  him  and  his  people  out  of  Delvin, 
as  also  Cormac  MacCoghlan  from  his  portion  of  the  territory. 
Cormac  in  May  returned  in  force,  with  the  Hy-Many,  slaying  among 
others  O'Shiel  hereditary  physician  of  the  MacCoghlan,  but  that 
chief  then  in  alliance  with  Fay  defeated  them  on  the  Blackwater  and 
there  fell  sons  of  O'Kelly,  O'Fallon  and  MacNaghtan.  Some  were 
drowned,  the  survivors  beheaded,  and  their  heads  were  carried  to 
Bailie  Mac  Adam,  Fay's  castle  in  Ely  O'Carroll,  and  elevated  on  poles 
as  trophies.  Fay  besieged  Feadan  castle,  and  after  eight  days  Cormac 
surrendered  it  giving  hostages  and  entering  into  gossipred  with  his 
enemies.  But  soon  after  Cormac  declining  a  proposal  to  join 
Fay  in  a  maraud  against  O'Carroll,  war  was  renewed,  and  O'Carrol 
whose  kinsman  Calvagh  had  been  seized  at  Dublin  and  MacCoghlan 
drove  Fay  out  of  Delvin,  taking  his  castles  of  Kincora  and  Kilcom- 
mon.  He  hastened  for  aid  to  the  deputy,  who  entered  Delvin  and 
encamped  at  Stonestown,  but  returned  on  the  morrow  with  little 
booty.  The  Irish  destroyed  Banagher,  Moystown  and  Cloghan  castles 
of  Ely  and  Delvin,  that  they  might  not  fall  into  possession  of  the 
English,  who  were  defeated  by  O'Carrol  losing  sixty  of  their  force. 
That  chief  burnt  Nenagh  and  Magh  Corrain,  drove  the  Saxons  out 
of  the  monastery  of  Abington  in  Limerick,  and  finally  ordered  them 
all  out  of  his  borders  except  a  few  warders,  who  held  the  round  tower 
of  Nenagh.  Cahir  Roe  O'Conor  captured  by  Burke  was  put  to 
death. 

Calvagh  O'Donnel  inherited  with  the  vigor  and  great  abilities  of 
his  race  their  Imperious  temper ;  and  some  cause  of  discontent  with 
his  father  Manus  led  in  1548  to  hostilities  between  them.  He  was 
defeated  by  Manus  at  Ballisofey,  near  the  river  Finn  in  Donegal,  his 
ally  O'Kane  being  killed.  That  same  year  Shane  O'Neil  invaded 
Clanaboy,  and  Brian  son  of  Nial  Oge  son  of  Nial  son  of  Con  son 
of  Hugh  Boy,  a  successful  and  warlike  man,  bountiful  and  hospita- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  321 

ble,  tlie  star  of  his  tribe  fell  in  its  defence.  O'Melaghlin  had  his 
house  burned  over  his  head  by  rival  chieftains  of  his  family,  incensed 
at  his  friendly  relations  with  the  English. 

Of  Shane  who  was  to  take  so  conspicuous  a  place  in  the  history 
of  Ulster  we  obtained  a  glimpse  in  1531,  when  the  castle  of  his 
foster  father  O'Donnelly*  was  demolished  by  his  cousin  Neil  Connel- 
agh,  and  with  horses  and  other  spoils  he  himself  carried  oiF  into 
captivity.  What  life  he  led  as  a  youth  does  not  appear,  but  it  was 
probably  in  consequence  of  his  unruly  behavior  that  Ferdoragh  was 
put  in  the  patent  of  tlie  earldom  in  his  place.  For  so  proud  a  spirit 
it  must  have  been  a  sore  trial  to  have  been  set  aside  in  favor  of  one 
who  had  no  claim  whatsoever  to  his  ancestral  inheritance. 

Con  Baccagh,  first  earl  of  Tyrone,  was  now  growing  old,  for  in 
1498  he  had  reached  sufficient  maturity  to  avenge  his  father's  death. 
He  was  son  of  Con  by  the  sister  of  the  eighth  Kildare,  whose  daughter 
Alice  he  had  married.  By  her  he  had  three  sons  :  Shane,  whom 
Froude,  with  strange  inaccuracy,  calls  illegitimate ;  Phelim  and 
Turlough,  and  a  daughter  Mary,  wife  of  Sorley  Roy,  fatherof  the  first 
earl  of  Antrim.  The  son  of  Alison,  wife  ofO'Kelly  a  blacksmith  at 
Dundalk,  Matthew  or  Ferdoragh,  whom  he  supposed  his  own,  from 
paternal  partiality,  he  had  had  included  in  the  patent  as  baron  Dun- 
gannon.  Con,  when  displeased  with  English  rule,  had  pronounced  a 
curse  on  any  of  his  posterity  who  should  conform  to  English  manners 
or  associate  with  the  Saxon  race.  When  disposed  to  correct  his 
mistake  in  the  preference  of  Ferdoragh,  the  deputy,  it  is  intimated 
at  the  instigation  of  the  latter,  who  took  advantage  of  the  unguarded 
words  and  courses  of  his  father  to  denounce  him,  contrived  in  1551  to 

*  Gilla  O'Donnelly,  chief  of  Feara  Droma,  slain  at  Down  in  battle  with  Sir  John  De 
Courcey  in  1180,  was  twenty-second  from  Nial  of  the  nine  hostages,  monarch  of  Ireland 
406.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  their  chief  having  possessions  near  Dungannon  commanded 
a  following  of  at  least  two  hundred  men.  When  Shane  O'Neil  was  killed  at  the  banquet 
by  MacDonnell  in  his  tent,  his  foster  brother  Dudley  O'Donnelly  was  there  with  him, 
defended  him,  and  shared  his  fate.  Members  of  the  family  in  later  years  have  gained 
high  social  position,  and  O'Donovan  in  the  Four  Masters  says  of  them  that  they  were  re- 
markable for  their  manly  form  and  symmetry  of  person,  and  that  even  the  peasants  who 
bore  the  name  exhibit  frequently  a  stature  and  an  expression  of  countenance  which  indi- 
cate high  descent. 
41 


322  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

gain  possession  of  Con  and  his  countess  and  to  imprison  them  in 
Dublin.  Shane,  indignant  at  this  treatment  of  his  father,  assisted 
by  his  brother-in-law  McDonnel,  commenced  hostilities  against 
Ferdoragh  and  Crofts,  who  that  year  had  replaced  St.  Leger,  wast- 
ing Tyrone  and  Dungannon  over  an  area  of  sixty  miles  by  forty. 

Crofts  signalized  his  first  autumn  by  a  hosting  into  Ulster,  despatch- 
ing a  force  to  Rathlin  which  was  cut  off,  Bagnal  the  only  survivor 
of  the  combat  being  exchanged  for  Sorly  Boy  Macdonnel,*  son-in- 
law  of  Tyrone.  Reinforced,  a  second  attempt  resulted  in  the  loss 
of  two  hundred  men,  and  a  third  the  next  year  in  no  better  success. 
Hugh  of  Clanaboy  defeated  his  vanguard  at  Belfast,  Savage  of  Ards 
being  slain.  The  army  of  Ferdoragh,  hastening  to  join  him,  at- 
tacked by  Shane  at  night  in  his  camp  were  cut  to  pieces.  In  the 
autumn  Crofts  once  more  invaded  Ulster.  The  chiefs  not  perhaps 
prepared  to  offer  him  effectual  resistance,  withdrew  into  their  fast- 
nesses, and  all  he  accomplished  was  the  destruction  of  a  few  corn-fields, 
amply  requited  by  devastation  of  English  settlements  by  O'Reilly. 

English  tenures  had  weakened  Irish  resistance  more  than  English 
swords.  Brothers  and  kinsmen  were  set  at  strife,  old  feuds  re- 
kindled from  their  smouldering  ashes,  and  many  of  the  Leinster  septs 
if  not  engaged  in  internecine  warfare,  were  in  arms  against  each 
other,  or  their  common  foe.  Taking  advantage  of  some  contention 
between  Melaghlins  and  MacCoghlans,  the  English  seized  upon 
Delvin.  O'Carrolls  whose  chief  was  imprisoned  at  Dublin  were  rest- 
less. He  promised  to  be  quiet  and  was  released ;  but  incensed  at 
fresh  injustice,  allied  himself  with  Kelly s,  some  of  the  Melaghlins, 
Mac  Coghlans  and  O'Connors,  and  Morrogh,  chief  of  the  Kavanaghs. 
War  raged  from  Dublin  to  the  Shannon.  Atlilone  garrisoned  by  the 
English  protected  their  movements,  and  the  clans  were  finally  wearied 
out.  O'Carroll  made  peace  for  them  at  Limerick,  being  himself 
created  baron  of  Ely.     Instead  of  making  common    cause   other 

*  Born  1505,  died  1586,  father  of  Randal  first  earl  of  Antrim.  , 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  323 

septs  were  torn  by  internal  dissensions  for  the  chieftainship.  Among 
them  O'Ferralls,  McSweenys,  O'Rom-kes,  O'Eeillys,  O'Sullivans 
Beare  and  O'Briens  were  occasionally  at  feud. 

Fire  arms  were  gradually  beginning  to  supersede  the  older  weapons 
of  warfare,  but  prudence  in  using  so  explosive  a  material  as  gun- 
powder was  not  immediately  learned.  An  instance  is  recorded  by  the 
Four  Masters  of  an  accidental  explosion  of  a  keg  of  powder  at  Dun- 
boy,  which  proved  fatal  to  the  chieftain  himself.  Dermod  the  thu'ty- 
fourth  from  Oliol  and  eleventh  lord  of  Bear  and  Bantry  son  of  Don- 
nal  son  Donnal,  son  of  Dermod  Balbh,  each  of  whom  in  turn  ruled 
over  the  country,  is  described  as  a  kind  and  friendly  man  but  fierce  and 
dangerous  to  his  enemies.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Eleanor, 
and  gave  asylum  to  her  nephew  Gerald.  Auliffe  the  tanist  succeed- 
ed, but  soon  after  being  killed,  made  way  forDonal,  son  of  Dermod, 
and  father  by  Sarah,  daughter  of  Sir  Donald  O'Brien  of  that  Donal 
O'Sullivan  Beare,  who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  Catholic  war. 

Under  Morogh  Thomondwas  at  peace  which  was  greatly  disturbed 
when  he  died.  Valiant  in  attack  and  formidable  on  the  defensive, 
wealthy  and  influential,  in  some  respects  resembling  in  character  his 
great  progenitor  Brian  Boru,  his  wisdom  and  moderation  curbed  the 
restiveness  of  his  people  with  whom  he  was  deservedly  popular. 
For  a  few  years  whilst  his  brother  Conor  still  lived,  the  government 
of  the  sept  devolved  upon  him,  and  closely  allied  with  Manus  of 
Tyrconnel  and  Con  of  Tyrone,  he  took  the  lead  in  arranging  for  the 
proposed  meeting  at  Fore  in  Meath  in  1540,  which  the  activity  of 
Brabazon  the  deputy  caused  to  be  abandoned.  When  the  conviction 
was  reluctantly  forced  upon  him,  that  national  independence  was  no 
longer  to  be  hoped  for,  he  submitted  to  what  he  could  not  avert. 
He  requested  that  he  might  have  confirmed  to  him  whatever  had 
formed  part  of  Thomond  with  rule  over  the  same,  not  seeking  to  have 
this  vested  in  his  own  descendants,  but  certainly  assenting  to,  if  not 
furthering  its  transfer  as  prescribed  by  ancient  custom  after  his  own 


324  TRANSFEE     OF    ERIN. 

life  to  the  heir  of  his  elder  brother.  Such  suppressed  abbies  as  had 
been  promised,  he  begged  might  be  duly  conveyed  to  him  and  an  abode 
assigned  him  in  the  capital ;  and  furthermore  that  the  English  law 
should  supersede  the  brehon  within  his  borders,  and  "  Irishmen  edu- 
cated at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  not  infected  with  the  poison  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  be  sent  to  preach  the  gospel."  How  far  this  peti- 
tion was  his  own  composition  is  open  to  doubt,  for  he  understood  no 
English.  It  was  for  the  most  part  granted,  and  with  the  earldom 
the  king  bestowed  upon  him  the  plate  of  Kildare,  which  had  been  en- 
trusted to  his  brother  Conor  by  "  Silken  Thomas."  For  the  nine  years 
he  held  the  earldom  he  proved  himself  a  loyal  subject,  his  people  if 
dissatisfied  with  the  new  settlement  being  forced  to  acquiesce  in  it  by 
the  vigor  of  his  character. 

Donogh  his  nephew  and  successor  had  lost  favor  with  the  Dalgais, 
when  to  use  his  own  expression,  "  he  married  the  daughter  of 
Ormond,*  and  forsook  father,  uncle,  friend  and  country  to  do 
the  king  service."  This  disaffection  gained  fresh  strength  when  upon 
his  succession  he  took  out  a  new  patent  to  himself  and  his  heirs  of 
Thomond  and  the  earldom,  including  what  belonging  to  earl  Morogh 
by  its  limitation  for  life  had  vested  in  the  crown.  His  mother  was 
Anabella  Burke,  daughter  of  Clanrickard.  His  brother  Sir  Donald, 
child  of  a  second  marriage  of  his  father  with  Ellice  daughter  of  Mau- 
rice Baccagh,  tenth  earl  of  Desmond,  was  son-in-law  of  Morogh. 
Donogh  had  assigned  Ibrickan  to  his  brother  Donald,  but  taken  it  away, 
and  though  ordered  by  Crofts  to  give  him  equivalents  had  neglected 
to  do  so.  In  the  angry  contention  which  ensued  Mahon  lost  his  life, 
and  also  the  new  earl,  assailed  in  Lent  1552  in  his  castle  of  Clon- 
road  by  his  brothers.  The  town  was  burnt  but  the  castle  held  out. 
Some  authorities  state  that  the  earl  was  killed  in  the  assault,  others 
that  he  died  a  natural  death  the  Saturday  following.  His  son  Conor, 
who  succeeded  him  as  third  earl,  and  the  sons  of  Morogh  were  no  bet- 

*  The  ninth  e.aii. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  325 

ter  liked  than  himself.  Dermod  second  baron  of  Inchiquin,  survived 
his  father  but  a  year,  and  his  son  Morogh  being  too  young  to  rule, 
Sir  Donald  known  as  Donald  Mor  was  inaugurated  chief  of  the  Dal- 
gais  as  if  no  surrender  had  been  made.  His  troubled  career  to  be 
noticed  under  the  two  next  reigns  ended  in  1579,  the  year  before 
that  of  his  nephew  Conor  the  third  earl.* 

Gerald  son  of  the  last  earl  of  Kildare,  upon  his  escape  from  Done- 
gal with  his  faithful  followers,  Walsh  and  Leverous,  had  taken  refuge 
in  France.  When  Chateaubrian  informed  Francis  I.  of  his  arrival 
the  king  sent  for  him  to  Paris  and  placed  him  with  his  son.  Eng- 
land remonstrating,  he  was  sent  to  the  imperial  court  at  Brussels  and 
thence  to  his  kinsman,  cardinal  Pole  at  Rome,  and  later  pursued  his 
studies  at  Verona  and  Mantua.  It  was  rumored  in  1544  that  he 
was  in  Brittany  prepared  to  take  part  in  an  invasion  of  Munster  by 
a  French  army.  Reaching  his  eighteenth  year  the  cardinal  gave 
him  his  choice  of  study  or  travel,  and  preferring  the  latter,  he  visit- 
ed Naples,  and  with  some  knights  of  the  order  of  St.  John  to  which 
order  had  belonged  two  of  his  uncles,  went  to  IVIalta,  serving  with  cre- 
dit against  the  Turks  and  Moors  in  Barbary.  Entering  the  service  of 
Cosmo  de  Medici  at  Florence  as  master  of  horse  he  remained  there 
three  years,  making  the  acquaintance  of  his  Italian  kinsfolk,  kept 
up  afterwards  by  correspondence  and  presents.  Hunting  with  one 
of  the  Farnese  near  Rome  he  fell  into  a  pit.  His  horse  killed  by 
the  fall,  he  remained  in  this  predicament  three  hours,  when  his  Irish 
greyhound  leading  his  companions  to  the  place,  he  was  rescued. 

*  The  male  line  of  Donosrh  O'Brien  became  extinct  on  the  death  of  Henry  the  eighth 
earl  in  1741.  Dissuaded  by  the  I^ing  from  leaving  his  estates  to  his  next  male  heir,  the 
sixth  viscount  Clare,  who  commanded  soon  after  in  1745  the  Irish  brigade  at  Fontenoy,  he 
entailed  them,  already  under  Cromwell  shoi-n  of  their  grand  proportions,  on  Morogh  son  of 
the  ninth  baron  and  fourth  earl  of  Inchiquin,  who  died  in  the  lifetime  of  his  father  without 
issue,  with  remainder  over  to  Percy  Wyndliam,  son  of  Catharine  Seymour,  his  wife's  sister 
and  daughter  of  the  sixth  duke  of  Somerset  by  Elizabeth  Percy.  Young  Wyndham  was 
created  earl  of  Thomond,  and  upon  his  death  unmarried  in  1774,  they  passed  to  his  nephew, 
third  earl  of  Egremont,  and  from  him  to  his  nephew,  the  fom-th  and  last ;  upon  whose  de- 
cease in  1845  they  went  to  his  cousin  George  Wyndham  lord  Leconfield.  The  ninth 
baron  and  fifth  carl  of  Inchiquin  was  created  marquess  of  Thomond  in  1800,  and  on  the 
death  of  the  third  marquess  in  1855,  the  other  honors  became  extinct,  but  the  barony 
of  Inchiquin  under  the  original  limitation  of  1-542  devolved  on  Sir  Lucius  brother  of  the 
well  known  Smith  O'Brien,  tenth  generation  from  Moroghs  younger  son  Donogh  of 
Lemenagh,  three  centuries  having  passed  since  the  death  of  Morogh.  The  original  ten-itorics 
of  the  race  had  nearly  all  long  before  passed  away  not  only  from  the  name  but  from  the 
blood  of  tiie  O'Briens. 


326  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

After  the  death  of  Henry  he  ventured  to  London  in  the  suite  of 
an  ambassador,  and  at  a  masque  at  the  palace  met  Mabel  Browne, 
step-daughter  of  his  sister  the  fair  Geraldine.  He  married  her,  and 
Sir  Anthony  her  brother  being  a  favorite  at  court,  through  his  influ- 
ence Gerald  was  restored  in  1552  to  the  estates  of  his  father  in 
Ireland.  Leverous  and  Walsh  who  had  accompanied  him  into  Italy 
were  rewarded  for  their  devotion.  Queen  Mary  appointed  the  former, 
whose  sermons  had  delighted  Crofts,  bishop  of  Kildare,  the  latter 
bishop  of  Meath,  but  they  were  deprived  upon  the  accession  of  Eliza- 
beth. Cardinal  Pole  who  had  generously  befriended  him  in  his  exile 
died  in  1558  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Gerald  in  1554  was  restored 
by  Queen  Mary  as  eleventh  earl  of  Kildare.  After  her  death  he  con- 
formed to  the  new  religion.  He  was  reputed  the  best  horseman  of  his 
day  and  possessed  of  many  other  gentlemanly  accomplishments.  He 
was  courteous  and  brave,  honorable  though  covetous.  For  thirty  years 
that  he  held  the  earldom  the  part  which  he  took  in  affairs  was  promi- 
nent and  creditable  alike  to  his  good  sense  and  rectitude  of  purpose. 

So  long  as  hope  could  be  indulged  that  Edward  would  outgrow 
the  native  delicacy  of  his  constitution  and  reach  to  manhood,  his 
union  with  his  cousin  Mary  queen  of  Scots,  five  years  younger  than 
himself,  offered  too  many  advantages  not  to  be  agitated.  The  con- 
solidation of  the  two  nations  under  one  rule  would  conduce  to  their 
mutual  security,  prosperity  and  power.  But  differences  of  faith  were 
insuperable  obstacles  and  the  Scotch  regency  objected  to  the  match. 
The  handsome  queen  educated  in  France  wedded  in  1558  Francis 
II.,  who  died  in  less  than  two  years  afterwards.  Disappointment  at 
the  rejection  of  the  proposal  to  marry  her  to  Edward  led  to  animosities 
ending  in  war  with  Scotland,  in  which  some  of  the  O'Conors  with  a 
brigade  of  kernes  from  Leinster  were  employed. 

France  taking  part  with  Scotland  improved  the  known  disaffection 
of  the  catholic  chieftains.  Henry  II.  despatched  Forquevaux  who  had 
won  laurels  in  war,  with  Montluc  his  prothonatary,  to  Ulster  by  the 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  327 

■way  of  Scotland  to  negotiate.  From  Dunbarton  where  they  met 
Paris  and  Fitzgerald  with  one  of  the  O'Moores  on  a  similar  errand 
to  the  O'Byrnes  and  O'Carrols  of  Leinster,  they  proceeded  to  Lough 
Foyle,  which  they  reached  according  to  Mageoghan  in  February 
1553,  but  three  years  earlier  according  to  Wright.  At  Culmor  fort, 
a  large  square  stone  tower  in  charge  of  the  son  of  O'Dogherty  a  de- 
pendent of  O'Donnel,  Waucop  the  blind  bishop  of  Armagh  visited 
them,  and  at  Donegal,  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  "for  themselves  and 
their  brother  chieftains  promised  to  place  their  lives,  fortunes  and 
possessions  under  protection  of  France,  so  that  whoever  was  king  of 
France  should  be  king  of  Ireland."  Peace  between  the  belliijerents 
rendered  the  compact  of  no  avail,  and  moreover  betrayed  it  to  the 
Enolish  o'overnment. 

Confiscation  of  religious  houses  went  on.  Catholics  intimidated 
under  Henry  by  the  pilgrimage  of  grace  and  other  measures  as  stern, 
not  to  sacrifice  or  endanger  their  property,  conformed.  Small  sti- 
pends saved  the  dispersed  orders  from  actual  destitution,  but  thou- 
sands of  the  aged  and  infirm  had  depended  on  conventual  alms. 
Poor  laws  of  savage  ferocity,  punished  poverty  as  a  crime.  Within 
the  fold  men  were  not  of  one  mind.  Ingenuity  exhausted  all  possible 
shades  of  dogma,  and  the  spirit  of  controversy  created  discord,  which 
knowing  no  moderation  grew  bitter  and  vindictive.  The  protector  in- 
clined to  Zwingle,  apostles  of  other  opinions  fond  of  display,  conten- 
tion and  power  swarmed  from  the  continent  stirring  up  strife.  Under 
Edward  there  was  little  actual  persecution  in  either  land  unto  death. 
Cranmer  of  Lutheran  tendencies  instigated  the  burning  for  heresy  of 
Joan  Bocher  a  crazy  fanatic,  a  moral  mistake  expiated  by  his  own 
similar  fate  under  Mary. 

When  his  prayer  book,  much  of  it  translated  from  the  missal,  was 
forced  upon  Ireland  and  read  in  the  cathedrals  at  Dublin,  masses  were 
being  chanted  at  the  altars  in  the  chapels.  Its  adoption  was  not 
unopposed.     Dowdal,  who  in  1543  at  the  suggestion  of  St.  Leger, 


328  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

had  succeeded  Cromer  in  Armagh,  at  a  conference  in  the  hall  of  St. 
Mary's  abbey  proposed  with  a  view  to  harmony  by  Crofts  the  deputy, 
urged  the  impropriety  of  forcing  upon  an  unwilling  people  prayers, 
which  even  the  English  race  could  not  understand.  The  new  liturgy 
was  introduced  on  Easter  Sunday,  1551,  at  Christ  Church,  and  the  six 
articles  of  Henry  being  repealed,  the  forty-two  articles  now  reduced 
to  thirty-nine  were  constituted  the  rule  of  faith.  Penalties  for 
non-compliance  were  not  at  first  pressed  with  rigor,  the  court  con- 
tenting itself  with  divesting  Armagh  of  the  primacy  of  all  Ireland 
in  favor  of  Dublin. 

Brown  the  new  primate  was  not  of  very  exemplary  character. 
Bale  of  Ossory,  testy  and  crapulous,  pronounced  him  "slack  in  things 
pertaining  to  God's  glory,  an  epicurious  archbishop,  brockish  swine 
and  dissembling  proselite."  Browne  accused  Staples  of  Meath,  who 
had  defended  the  new  liturgy  at  the  conference,  of  "  preaching  so 
that  the  three  mouthed  Cerberus  of  hell  could  not  have  uttered  it 
more  viperously."  Titular  bishops,  nominated  at  Rome,  contested 
the  several  sees  with  those  appointed  by  the  crown.  The  blind 
Jesuit  Waucop  claimed  Armagh  from  which  Dowdal  although  catholic 
had  felt  forced  to  flee.  The  garrison  of  Athlone  despoiled  Clonmac- 
nois  and  other  shrines  of  bell,  book  and  candle,  carrying  off  relic, 
plate  and  painted  glass.  Suppressed  abbies  bestowed  from  favor  or 
from  motives  of  policy  were  passing  into  hands  of  laymen,  but  per- 
secution in  Ireland  under  Edward  did  not  slay  priests  at  the  altar  or 
hang  friars  for  intimidation,  as  chanced  when  his  father  was  king. 

John  Bale,  whose  literary  accomplishments  had  placed  him  in 
charge  of  the  education  of  Edward,  had  cause  to  rue  his  elevation 
from  a  country  living  at  Bishopstoke  in  Hampshire  to  the  vacant  see 
of  Ossory.  Reaching  Dublin  early  in  1553,  he  refused  to  be  conse- 
crated by  the  catholic  rite  as  proposed  by  Brown  and  Lockwood,  the 
dean  of  St.  Patrick,  that  he  might  be  more  acceptable  to  his  diocese, 
and  stayed  the  office  until  bread  replaced  the  wafer  on  the  table. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  329 

Twelve  discourses  at  St.  Canace  incensed  his  clergy,  and  after  Easter 
he  witlidrew  to  Holmes  Court  his  episcopal  residence,  a  few  miles  out  of 
Kilkenny.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  popular  rejoicings  announced 
the  death  of  Edward  on  the  sixth,  and  Jane  Grey  was  proclaimed  in 
that  city  as  at  Dublin.  Bale  in  his  "  vocation,"  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  his  experiences,  says  the  chiefs  proposed  to  drive  out  the 
English  and  proclaim  a  king  of  their  own,  but  were  better  content  when 
some  weeks  later  they  learned  that  Mary  was  enthroned.  Catholic 
services  went  on  in  the  catliedral  whilst  he  occupied  the  [)ulpit,  but  he 
caused  "  the  comedy  of  eFohn  the  baptist  "  and  "tragedy  of  Gods  pro- 
mises," miracle  plays  and  compositions  of  his  own,  to  be  performed. 
The  resentment  of  clergy  and  laity,  including  the  lords  Mouutgar- 
ret  and  Upper  Ossory,  menaced  his  safety  ;  and  after  five  of  his 
servants  had  been  killed  and  his  horses  driven  off",  the  mayor  and 
four  hundred  men  volunteering  as  his  escort,  he  took  shelter  in  Kil- 
kenny for  a  few  days,  and  then  proceeded  to  Leighlin  castle  and 
from  thence  to  Dublin.  Captured  by  a  Flemish  ship  when  he  left  the 
country  for  Scotland,  he  repaired  when  released  to  Geneva,  and  there 
remained  so  long  as  ]\Iary  was  queen. 

In  May,  1553,  chancellor  Cusack  in  a  report  home  on  the  state  of 
the  country  says  that  Desmond,  Roche,  Barry,  Fitzmaurice  and 
many  more,  in  commission  as  justices  of  the  peace,  held  sessions  and 
decided  causes.  i\IacCarthy  Mor,  brother-in-law  of  Desmond  and 
"the  most  })owerful  Irishman  in  Ireland"  in  155G,*to  be  created  earl 
of  Clanearre,  conformed  to  order.  Garrisons  at  Leighlin,  Femes 
and  Enniscorthy  held  under  due  restraint  the  Kavanaghs  of  Leinster  ; 
O'Byrnes  witii  eighty  horse  and  as  many  foot  obeyed  the  deputy. 
Thomond  was  at  peace  as  were  Mac  Williams,  Mac-I-brien-ara,  and 
Mulryans  of  Limerick  orTipperary,  Kennedys,  O'Briens  of  Coonagh, 
O'Dwyres  and  Cjirrols.  The  chancellor  states  that  he  had  brought 
to  terms  Richard  the  young  earl,  and  Ulick  the  captain  of  Clani'ick- 

*  Extinct  Peerages,  other  authorities  sny  1566. 
42 


330  TRANSFER      OF      ERIX. 

ard,  which  wasted  by  then'  contentions  was  again  nnder  tillage,  and 
cattle  and  plongh  might  be  left  safe  in  the  field.  O'Kelly  paid  cess 
for  a  hundred  galloglasses,  fourpence  a  day  for  each.  Between  Ath- 
lone  and  Offlily,  O'Byrnes,  MacCoghlans,  Fox,  Molloys  and 
Mageoghans  made  restitution  of  three  hundred  pounds  for  preys 
taken  of  their  neighbors  ;  O'Reilly  with  his  seven  sons  commanding 
four  hundred  horse,  two  hundred  galloglasses  and  a  thousand  kerne, 
four  hundred.  Tyrone,  sixty  miles  by  twenty- four,  three  years  be- 
fore well  inhabited,  lay  desolate  from  the  rivalries  of  Shane  and  Fer- 
doragh.  A  garrison  at  Armagh,  where  stood  "the  best  church  in 
Ireland,"  prevented  marauds,  and  earl  Con  and  his  countess  being 
prisoners  in  Dublin,  Ferdoragh  curbed  the  restiveness  of  Tir-Owen. 

In  the  opinion  of  Cusack  the  honors  bestowed  and  late  visits 
to  court  of  the  chijeftains  had  worked  well,  and  if  Leix  and  OfFaly  wei'e 
divided  into  counties  and  granted  in  fee  farm,  the  rest  pf  the  island 
reduced  to  shire  ground,  lands  held  of  the  crown,  presidents  appointed 
in  Connaught,  Munster  and  Ulster,  preachers  sent  over  to  inculcate 
obedience  to  God  and  the  king,  affairs  would  stand  better  still. 
Preaching  there  was  none,  without  which  the  ignorant  could  have  no 
knowledge,  but  Irishmen  had  never  been  so  weak  or  English  subjects 
so  strong.  His  suggestions  were  put  to  the  test.  They  effected  their 
object  so  far  as  concerned  the  English  interest.  The  rightful  owners 
of  the  soil  were  crushed  beneath  its  iron  heel  and  driven  out  to  perish, 
and  another  historical  crime  of  Christendom  was  perpetrated. 

This  is  a  sad  accusation  but  not  to  be  denied  or  extenuated.  Might 
does  not  make  right.  O'Conors  and  Moores  had  manifested  a  dispo- 
sition to  be  peaceable  subjects  if  left  unmolested.  Their  territory 
they  had  held  for  a  thousand  years.  Their  own  annals  and  English 
authorities  afford  abundant  proof  that  they  cultivated  the  arts  of 
peace  and  civilization.  Their  chiefs  were  allied  with  Graces  and 
Geraldines.  Meath  paid  O'Conors  five  hundred  pounds  for  pro- 
tection   from    more    distant  septs,    Kildare    twenty.      When    their 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  331 

annual  payment  stipulated  by  government  was  withheld,  Delvin  the 
deputy  became  their  prisoner.  In  1537,  not  disposed  to  yield  to  a 
demand  made  upon  them  for  eight  hundred  cows,  their  principal  castle 
of  Dengen  was  demolished.  Grey  repenting  of  "their  cruel  and 
extreme  handling  "  in  a  personal  interview  engaged  that  their  rights 
should  be  respected.  Their  possessions  had  been  included  in  the 
forfeitures  of  Kildare  without  pretension  to  justice  ;  grants  were  made 
of  them  in  1540 ;  they  resented  it,  capturing  and  destroying 
castle  Jordan  in  reprisal  for  Dengen.  Barringtons,  Houndens  and 
other  adventurers  were  put  in  possession  of  Leix  and  OfFaly  by 
Bellingham  and  his  army  of  forty-five  hundred  men,  and  forts  were 
commenced  for  tlieir  security.  Driven  to  desperation,  resistance  was 
reasonable  enough,  but  to  little  purpose. 

The  chiefs  surrendered  on  their  own  terms,  but  these  were  disre- 
garded and  no  mercy  was  shown.  Their  expulsion,  an  error 
alike  in  morals  and  politics,  engendered  antagonisms,  and  arrested 
the  progress,  already  considei'able,  of  fusion  between  the  races,  which 
working  down  from  castle  to  cot,  would  in  time  have  rendered  the 
people,  forced  by  geographical  conditions  into  one  nationality,  homo- 
geneous. If  not  all  of  the  same  religious  opinions  no  rancor  for 
wrong  would  have  kept  them  asunder,  or  prevented  their  gradually 
drawing  closer  to  common  standards  of  faith  and  practice. 

Whether  it  was  that  the  church  had  proved  domineering  or  exer- 
cised too  faithful  a  sway  over  men's  consciences,  neither  its  spoliation 
nor  the  act  of  supremacy  had  much  affected  the  growing  disposition 
towards  consolidation.  The  country  would  have  been  in  excellent 
condition  to  maintain  her  independence  if  united,  but  that  was  no 
longer  to  be  hoped.  If  consolidation  signified  protection  from  earls 
and  petty  satraps,  whose  delight  seemed  in  havoc  and  destruction 
without  other  idea  of  government  than  to  use  it  to  their  own  advan- 
tage, the  chiefs  showed  their  wisdom  in  giving  in  allegiance  to  the 
crown.     But  it  was  still  an  inexcusable  blunder,  after  experience  of 


332  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

such  perfidy  and  outrage,  to  repose  confidence  where  it  had  been  ever 
disappointed.  Up  to  this  time  the  country  had  been  overrun,  but 
neither  subjected  nor  conquered.  If  now  her  clans  coukl  have 
treated  in  arms  as  often  in  their  power,  and  secured  terms  of  union, 
guaranteeing  rights  and  liberties,  their  moral  position  would  have 
been  stronger  in  the  subsequent  conjunctures.  Deceived  by  their 
own  honesty  of  purpose  and  professions  made  to  them,  they  took 
for  granted  that  in  becoming  British  subjects  they  would  enjoy  equal 
rights.  Too  late,  when  helplessly  enthralled,  they  found  themselves 
mocked.  England  not  only  withheld  these  rights,  but  exercised 
over  them  the  power  of  a  conqueror,  not  as  regulated  by  public 
opinion  and  the  law  of  nations,  but  a  tyranny  grinding  and  merci- 
less and  wholly  unparalleled. 

From  what  actually  took  place  must  be  inferred  a  compact.  If 
the  people  through  their  chieftains  by  general  acquiescence  consented 
to  consolidation,  it  was  conditioned  on  the  extension  to  them  of  all 
privileges  vouchsafed  by  the  crown  to  their  fellow  subjects.  Among 
them  were  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  vested  i-ight  to  land  and 
property,  of  their  peculiar  local  customs  and  institutions,  represen- 
tation in  making  laws  and  levying  taxes,  fair  distribution  of  oflficial 
preferment,  and  all  such  immunities  and  safeguards  by  charter  or 
statute  as  formed  integral  part  of  the  national  constitution.  Liberty 
of  conscience  in  faith  and  worship,  according  to  preference  or  con- 
viction, was  of  course  qualified  by  the  prevailing  insanities  of  the 
age,  but  the  reformation  was  too  recent  for  the  bigoted  intolerance 
and  sanguinary  persecutions  of  its  later  stages  to  be  anticipated. 
How  far  these  obligations  on  the  part  of  England  were  sacredly  re- 
garded, or  Ireland  absolved  by  their  violation  from  her  allegiance, 
depends  upon  subsequent  events,  and  for  any  just  or  reasonable  con- 
clusion as  to  present  claims  of  reparation,  or  to  what  has  been  right 
or  wrong  in  the  past,  they  must  be  subjected  to  careful  scrutiny. 

If  wanton   destruction   of   life   and  property,    eviction   of  whole 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  333 

clans  from  their  inheritance,  wei'e  simply  retaliation  for  ontrages 
warranting-  reprisal  against  nation  or  sept,  if  transfer  of  the  soil  from 
one  race  to  the  other  proceeded  from  superior  wisdom  and  industry 
in  one,  vice  and  improvidence  in  the  other,  however  much  to  be  de- 
j)Iored,  the  result  accorded  with  natural  laws  and  was  not  to  be 
controlled.  But  if  brought  about  by  arbitrary  acts  and  systematic 
plunder  of  the  least  powerful,  it  was  an  infringement  of  the  terms 
on  which  the  compact  was  made.  No  hipse  of  time  can  remove  the 
reproach  or  limit  the  claim  to  redress,  so  long  as  the  consequences 
are  still  felt.  That  both  government  and  influential  classes  of 
English  subjects,  by  such  laws  and  spoliation,  by  superior  military 
force,  did  defraud  and  deprive  the  Irish  of  their  birthright  is  generally 
admitted,  and  indeed  is  too  plainly  written  over  all  the  pages  of  their 
history  to  be  questioned  by  impartiality  or  candor. 


XXXII. 

REIGN    OF   MARY.  — 1553-1558. 

Nearest  to  the  throne  of  England  stood  four  daughters  of  the 
house  of  Tudor.  jSIary  and  Elizabeth  excluded  by  act  of  parlia- 
ment, Mary  of  Scots  objectionable  on  other  grounds,  the  dying 
monarch,  in  the  interest  of  the  reformation,  named  by  will  to  the 
succession,  Jane  Grey,  grand  niece  of  his  father,  under  the  persua- 
sion of  Northumberland,  whose  son  Guilford  Dudley  she  had 
married.  She  was  proclaimed  ;  and  the  duke  gathered  a  force  of 
ten  thousand  men  to  support  her  pretensions,  which  were  I'eceived 
with  little  fervor  or  favor.  Convinced  of  his  mistake  he  strove  to 
retrieve  it  by  joining  at  Cambridge  in  the  acclaim  for  Mary.  This 
proved  of  little  avail.  Before  another  month  was  over,  he  was  be- 
headed on  Tower  Hill,  the  estimable  victim  of  his  ambition  lady 
Jane,  her  husband  and  others  sharing  his   fate.      Hastening  to  the 


334  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

tower  soon  after  her  accession,  the  queen  set  at  liberty  the  aged 
Norfolk,  Somerset,  Courtney  and  Gardiner,  the  former  of  whom  had 
been  incarcerated  since  her  father's  death,  which  alone  had  saved  him 
from  the  block. 

Cranmer,  deposed  from  the  see  of  Canterbury,  which  he  had  lield 
for  twenty  years,  was  reserved  for  a  more  cruel  death.  His  eminent 
abilities  were  clouded  by  traits  of  character,  by  practices  and  policy, 
not  to  be  commended  ;  and  his  life  became  him  less  than  its  close. 
He  first  attracted  Henry's  notice  by  advocating  the  divorce,  and  helped 
to  relieve  him  of  Ann  Boleyn  when  she  ceased  to  please.  His  religious 
views  were  modified  by  expediency,  and  he  possessed  little  natural 
aptitude  for  the  role  of  martyr  which  he  was  forced  to  assume. 
In  1539,  he  urged  the  passage  of  the  bloody  act  of  the  six  articles, 
and  subsequently  prosecuted  those  who  obeyed  it.  In  the  late 
reign  though  of  avowed  Lutheran  tendencies,  they  became  Zwin- 
glian  whilst  Somerset  was  in  the  ascendant ;  and  the  thirty-nine 
articles  drawn  up  under  his  direction,  curiously  exemplified  his  con- 
trolling principle  of  being  all  things  to  all  men,  in  reconciling  the 
various  points  of  controversial  belief.  That  he  should  have  partici- 
pated in  the  religious  spoils  accorded  Avith  the  spirit  of  the  times. 
In  his  recantation  with  the  hope  of  saving  his  life,  he  evinced  less 
firmness  than  Sir  Thomas  More  or  lady  Jane  Grey,  but  when  the 
fagots  were  ablaze  about  him  at  Cambridge  in  1556,  he  made  a 
noble  end. 

Goodacre  of  Armagh  na'Isis  dead.  Bale  says  poisoned  by  the  priests. 
Dowdal  resumed  his  archepiscopate,  restoring  the  catholic  faith  at 
his  synod  in  Drogheda.  Brown  of  Dublin,  Lancaster  of  Kildare, 
Travers  of  Leighlin,  Staples  of  Meath  were  deposed  ;  Bale  of  Ossory 
and  Casey  of  Limerick  had  fled,  and  their  places  were  respectively 
filled  by  Curwin,  Leverous,  O'Fihely,  AValsh,  Thonery  and  Lacy, 
whilst  Rowland  Bacon  or  Fitzgerald  continued  archbishop  of  Cashel. 
The  queen  was  disposed  to  be  tolerant.      She  soon  renounced  all 


i 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIX.  OOO 

pretension  to  reliuious  supremacy.  The  English  parliament,  first  in- 
sisting that  church  confiscations  granted  to  laymen  should  not  be 
disturbed,  repealed  the  laws  against  papal  jurisdiction.  Ireland 
with  slight  exception  catholic  welcomed  the  I'cstoration  of  the  ancient 
rule  and  rite.  There  was  no  occasion  for  persecutii)n,  as  the  people 
were  all  of  one  mind  ;  and  the  priests  simply  resumed  their  functions. 
Grants  made  by  Brown  to  his  children  were  later  avoided,  but  no 
effort  was  made  to  divest  others  of  church  pi'operty .  Although  catho- 
lic rites  were  again  established  and  the  pope  to  be  supreme  in  matters 
ecclesiastical,  he  was  given  to  understand*  that  he  was  not  to  inter- 
fere with  the  church  spoliations,  that  title  to  land  was  grounded  only 
upon  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  realm  and  could  only  be  impleaded 
in  the  cpieen's  courts ;  and  that  all  persons  having  the  site  of  the 
late  monasteries  or  other  religious  places  shoidd  keep  and  enjoy  the 
same  according  to  the  interest  or  estate  they  held  by  existing  laws. 
Bulls  and  decrees  would  be  received,  if  not  containing  matter  con- 
trary or  prejudicial  to  the  authority,  dignity  or  preeminence  royal 
and  imperial  of  the  realm.  The  cpieen  appointed  the  bishops  and 
distributed  with  lavish  hand  church  seqtiestrations  when  no  disposi- 
tion of  them  had  already  been  made.  Grants  passed  from  the  crown 
of  tithes  to  Sir  John  Trav^ers,  at  Leix  to  Matthew  King,  of  Fueul- 
len  to  Brian  O'Toole,  of  the  farm  of  Swords  to  Brewerton,  of  St. 
Catherines  and  Mothill  in  Watcrford  to  Patrick  Sherlock  ;  of  St. 
Johns  near  Kells,  St.  Mary's  near  Drogheda,  rectories  of  Rathayne, 
Rathryan  and  Athsie  and  parsonage  of  Sidon ;  and  later  in  tiie 
reign  of  the  monasteries  of  St.  Mary  in  Urso,  Athassel  and  Gran- 
ard,  Abbeys  of  Jerpont,  Callan,  and  Tulliophilen,  houses  of 
Augustines  and  Carmelites  and  hospital  of  St.  Lawrence  at  Droghe- 
da. The  restoration  of  the  priory  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  at 
Kilmainham,  of  w'hieh  Owen  Massingberd  w'as  appointed  prior  at 
the  instance  of  Pole,  may  be  ascribed  to  the  frequent  residence  there 

*  By  the  act  3  and  4  Philip  and  Mary,  chapter  8. 


335  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

of  the  deputies,  for  whom  it  afforded  from  its  military  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal character  combined  a  safe  and  convenient  abode. 

Bej^ond  legislative  permission  to  grant  land  for  twenty  years  in 
mortmain,  little  provision  was  made  for  restoration  of  parochial 
churches  or  construction  of  new,  for  the  support  of  the  secular 
clergy  or  religious  instruction  of  the  people.  Yet  whilst  Latimer 
and  Ridley  "  were  lighting  such  a  candle  in  England  as  they  trusted 
in  God's  grace  would  never  be  put  out,"  and  were  soon  followed  to 
the  stake  by  Cranmer  and  throngs  of  other  martyrs  to  the  new  learn- 
ing, persecution  for  heresy  found  few  advocates  in  the  pale,  where 
protestant  opinions  predominated. 

Toleration  ruled,  and  it  is  even  said  that  thirty  thousand  English 
protestants  sought  refuge  in  the  island  from  persecution  and  pri- 
vately worshipped  undisturbed.  Harvey,  Ellis,  Edmunds,  Haugh 
and  other  respectable  families  from  Cheshire  with  Jones  their  pastor, 
settled  in  Dublin.  Towards  the  close  of  the  reign.  Cole,  dean 
of  St.  Paul's,  sent  over  to  institute  prosecutions  for  heresy,  exhibit- 
ed his  commission  at  Chester  on  his  way,  to  his  hostess.  To  save 
her  friends  she  substituted  for  it,  whilst  he  was  sleeping,  a  pack  of 
cards,  which,  after  explaining  to  the  Irish  council  with  much 
solemnity  the  object  of  his  mission,  to  his  confusion  and  their  amuse- 
'  ment  he  drew  out  from  his  packet  and  displayed  in  its  stead. 
t  Charles  the  fifth,  tormented  by  gout  and  tired  of  power  and  gran- 
deur, not  pleased  that  protestants  should  have  recognized  rights 
within  his  imperial  borders,  was  about  to  withdraw  from  the  throne 
to  the  cloister.  Ambition  for  his  children  still  retained  a  hold,  and 
Mary  had  been  but  six  months  queen  when  Egmoud  and  Montmo- 
rency appeared  at  the  English  court  to  solicit  her  hand  for  his  eldest 
son,  Philip,  then  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  she  being  ten  years  older. 
In  July,  1554,  they  were  married.  Charles,  two  years  afterwards, 
bestowed  upon  Philip  the  throne  of  Spain,  living  on  as  much  longer 
himself,  when  fatigue  at  rehearsing  his  own  obsequies  accelerated  his 


TKANSFER     OF     EUIN.  337 

dissolution.  Soon  after  the  marriage  cardinal  Pole,  esteemed  for  his 
many  virtues,  arrived  as  legate  fronieJulius  the  Third,  and  more  vig- 
orous measures  were  adopted  for  the  restoration  of  Catholicism.  Am- 
bassadors proceeded  to  Korae,  and  after  some  hesitation  as  to  their 
reception,  since  Mary  had  without  papal  permission  assumed  the  title 
of  queen  of  Ireland,  Paul  then  pontiff,  to  assert  his  prerogative,  in 
1555,  issued  his  bull  constituting  the  island  a  kingdom. 

St.  Leger,  for  the  sixth  and  last  time  deputy,  received  in  Novem- 
ber 1553  the  sword  of  state  from  Cusack  and  Aylmer,  who  had  shown 
their  zeal  by  suppressing  in  Louth  a  rising  of  the  O'Neils  and  defeat- 
ing in  Offaly  Donogh  son  of  Brian  O'Conor.  From  his  long 
experience  in  Irish  'administration  and  friendly  relations  with  the 
chiefs,  his  appointment  encouraged  hopes  of  a  policy  moderate, 
efficient  and  conciliatory.  The  queen  was  disposed  to  reduce  her 
force  in  the  island  to  five  hundred  men.  Such  was  the  state  of 
affairs  that  this  could  be  but  partially  accomplished,  six  hundred  foot 
and  four  hundred  horse  being  retained. 

O'Melaghlin,  from  some  displeasure  not  explained,  had  slain  at 
Ballina  his  tanist  Nial  "warlike  and  experienced,  the  best  of  his 
tribe,*'  Avhen  returning  home  from  court  at  Mullingar.  Nugent, 
baron  Delvin,  with  English  troops  from  Athlone  expelled  the  chief, 
taking  possession  of  Clonlonan  his  principal  castle.  The  baron  then 
wasted  Dealna,  and  soon  after  joined  Gerald  of  Kildare  in  a  raid  into 
Ulster  to  help  Shane  his  kinsman  against  Felim  Roe  son  of  Hugh. 
Kildare  exacted  from  the  MacCoghlans  an  eric  of  three  hundred 
and  forty  cows  for  his  foster  brother  Robert  Nugent,  who  had  been 
killed  by  Art,  son  of  Cormac,  the  death  of  which  Cormac  heir  to 
Dealna  is  recorded  the  same  year.  Charles  Kavanagh,  whose  wife 
Alice  was  sister  of  Gerald,  sharing  with  him  the  royal  favor  became 
baron  Balyan,  but  died  in  1554. 

Gerald,  restored  by  Mary  to  the  remainder  of  his  paternal  inheritance 
and  to  the  earldom  of  Kildare,  had  returned  with  his  brother  Edward 
43 


338  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

to  Ireland,  and  with  him  came  Thomas  Duv,  tenth  earl  of  Ormond, 
who  but  fourteen  years  of  age  when  his  father  was  poisoned  in  1546, 
was  still  quite  young.  They  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  Mary  to  the  throne,  and  in  the  suppression  of  the  rising  of 
Wyat.  With  them  also  came  Brian  son  of  Fitzpatrick,  lord  of 
Upper  Ossory,  the  accomplished  friend  of  the  late  king.  Ormond, 
upon  his  return  was  employed  against  the  chief  of  Thomond,  Kildare 
against  O'Neil  of  Clanaboy,  Con  being  engaged  in  war  with  that 
branch  of  his  name,  Donald  O'Brien  with  the  Burkes  of  Clanrickard. 
Tyrone  was  defeated,  losing  three  hundred  men.  Sir  Donald,  when 
chosen  to  the  chieftainry  upon  the  death  of  his  brother  Donogh,  after 
driving  the  earl  of  Clanrickard  from  the  castle  of  Benmore,  had 
made  his  hosting  into  Ely,  taking  hostages  from  O'Carrol.  He  then 
proceeded  into  Leinster  and  held  a  conference  with  the  English  at 
Campa  in  Leix,  parting  friends. 

In  a  war  of  the  MacCoghlans  with  O'MoUoy  a  peasant  slew  three 
warders  of  Clonony,  seizing  that  castle,  and  in  another  with  the 
Clancolman  the  castle  of  Rachra  was  demolished.  This  same  year 
sanguinary  conflicts  at  Kinsellagh  in  Donegal  took  place  between  the 
clan  Sweeny  of  the  Tuathas  and  another  sept  of  the  name.  Sir 
Donald  O'Brien  besieged  the  earl  Conor  in  his  castle  of  Doon  in 
Bunratty  in  Clare,  but  was  driven  oflf  by  Ormond.  The  next  week 
he  invaded  Clanrickard,  the  disaffected  kinsmen  of  that  earl  attending 
him  into  Galway  and  receiving  from  him  fosterage  and  wages.  Two 
years  afterwards  he  marched  to  meet  the  deputy  in  Hy  Regan,  again 
making  peace  for  all  the  Dalgais. 

Hugh  O'Madden,  chief  of  Sil  Anmachadha  or  Longford,  was 
succeeded  by  John  slain  by  Breasil,  when  two  chiefs  divided  the  sept. 
Brian  O'Connor,  who,  after  his  release  from  durance  in  London,  had 
been  detained  in  Dublin  as  too  dangerous  to  be  at  large,  in  1555  re- 
gained his  freedom,  to  fall  in  an  attempt  to  recover  the  rule  of  his  sept 
from  his  son  Donosh. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  339 

Calvagh  O'Donnel,  again  at  feud  with  his  father,  in  1555  repaired 
to  Scotland  for  aid,  and  returning  with  a  force  under  Archibald 
Campbell,  and  with  the  gonna  cam  or  "crooked  gun,"  battered  down 
the  castles  of  Eanach  and  Inishowen.  At  Rosreagh  he  took  Manus 
prisoner  and  kept  him  captive  while  he  lived.  Two  years  later  Shane 
O'Neil  with  Hugh  O'Ponnel  son  of  Manus,  marched  a  large  army 
into  Tirconnell.  "  Their  spacious  and  hero  thronged  camp  "  was  first 
pitched  at  Carricleith  between  the  rivers  Finn  and  Mourne.  They 
passed  their  time  pleasantly  in  buying  and  selling  mead,  wine  and  rich 
clothing.  When  Shane  received  information  that  the  Kinel  Con- 
nel  had  betaken  themselves  with  their  horses  and  herds  to  the  fast- 
nesses of  the  country,  he  declared  he  would  pursue  them  into 
Leinster  or  ]\lunster  till  they  submitted  to  his  authority,  and  there 
should  be  but  one  king  in  Ulster  for  the  future.  Calvagh  consulting 
his  father,  a  cripple  from  age  and  infirmity,  and  then  residing  at  the 
castle  of  Lifford,  as  to  what  course  to  pursue,  Manus  advised  him 
not  to  attack  Shane  in  the  open  field,  but  strive  to  take  him  unawares 
in  his  camp. 

The  Kinel  Owen  marched  on  with  all  expedition  across  the  Finn  to 
Balleaghan,  where  they  constructed  their  booths  and  tents.  Cal- 
vagh, near  by,  with  his  son  Con  and  a  small  force  of  MacS weeny s 
and  jNIaguires  on  the  hill  of  Binnion,  despatched  two  trusty  men  to 
reconnoitre.  Gaining  the  hostile  encampment  and  not  being  recog- 
nized, as  the  army  was  numerous  and  variously  composed,  they  went 
from  one  camp  fire  to  another  tUl  they  reached  Shane's  tent.  A  huge 
torch  thicker  than  a  man's  body  was  flaming  near  the  fire,  and  sixty 
grim  galloglasses  armed  with  sharp  battle  axes,  and  as  liiany  stern 
lookin":  Scots  with  broad  and  massive  swords  were  on  fmard.  When 
the  time  came  for  the  troops  to  take  their  repast  and  food  was  dis- 
tributed, the  spies  held  out  their  helmets  with  the  rest  for  their 
share  of  meal  and  butter,  and  then  took  their  departure  unobserved 
for  their  own  camp. 


340  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

Calvagh,  after  hearing  their  report,  immediately  ordered  his*men 
to  arms,  and  his  son  Con  giving  him  his  own  horse,  they  made  a  fierce 
onslaught  upon  their  enemies.  "Both  sides  proceeded  to  kill,  hack  and 
mangle  one  another  with  their  polished  sharp  axes  and  well  tem- 
pered, keen  edged,  hero  befitting  swords,  so  that  many  warriors  were 
wounded  and  disabled."  When  Shane  heard  the  noise  of  the  heavy 
troops  and  clamor  of  the  bands,  he  passed  through  the  western  end 
of  his  tent  unobserved.  The  night  was  rainy,  heavy  showers  fol- 
lowed by  silent  dripping,  and  rivers  and  streams  were  flooded.  His 
army  after  desperate  resistance  were  defeated  with  great  havoc.  Shane 
with  two  of  Hugh  O'Donnel's  men  and  Felim  O'Gallagher  swam  the 
Deal,  Finn  and  Derg,  and  borrowing  a  horse  of  Mongan  erenagh  of 
church  in  Omagh  he  at  last  reached  Clogha  in  Tyrone.  The  Kinel 
Connel  passed  the  night  feasting  and  carousing,  quaffing  the  wines 
of  their  defeated  foes.  Con  had  for  his  share  of  the  spoil  eighty 
horses,  besides  Shane's  own  steed  called  Mac-an-iolair,  son  of  the 
eagle.  Arms  and  coats  of  mail  and  costly  apparel  were  found  in  the 
camp  in  great  abundance,  and  scarcely  so  much  booty  had  been  obtain- 
ed when  Hugh  Oge,  in  1522,  vanquished  O'Neil  at  Knocavoe. 

His  forces  utterly  routed  Shane  lost  popularity  with  his  sept  whilst 
Ferdoragh  gained.  Jealous  of  his  rival,  in  1558,  Shane  it  is  said  be- 
ing himself  actually  present,  three  of  his  foster  brothers,  the  Donnel- 
ly s,  raised  hue  and  cry  near  by  the  castle  where  Dungannon  was  passing 
the  night,  who  sallying  forth  at  the  clamor  was  slain.  The  earl  of 
Tyrone,  not  displeased  at  the  event,  for  he  had  been  imprisoned  at 
Dublin  in  1553  at  the  instance  of  Ferdoragh,  restored  Shaneto  favor, 
put  him  in  positions  of  trust,  and  when  he  died  the  year  after  the  death 
of  Mary,  Shane  found  little  difficulty  in  obtaining  from  the  Kinel 
Owen  the  chieftainry. 

St.  Leger  was  too  independent  to  please  either  the  magnates  of  the 
pale  or  the  ghostly  advisers  of  the  queen  for  any  length  of  time.  If 
paying   some   outward  observance  to   the  ruling  faith,   he  was  well 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  341 

known  as  indifFerent  if  not  a  scoffer,  and  verses  of  his  composition 
irrevei'ent  of  the  eucliarist  had  transpired.  For  this  and  other  causes 
he  had  been  ajjain,  and  for  the  last  time,  summoned  home.  Thomas 
KatclifFe,  viscount  Fitzwalter,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  "  brave  and  con- 
stant," and  "  who  hated  the  gypsey  Leicester,"  appointed  lord  lieuten- 
ant, received  in  the  spring  of  1556  the  insignia  of  office  from  his 
predecessor.  With  him  came  his  brother-in-law,  also  Dudley's,  Sir 
Henry  Sydney,  who  for  the  next  twenty  years  took  a  leading  part 
in  Irish  administration.  Desmond  held  the  post  of  treasurer  for  life, 
and  Sydney  was  appointed  treasurer  for  the  war.  They  brought 
over  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  for  use  in  military  movements. 
No  time  was  lost.  The  Kinsellgh  raided  the  pale.  Seven  score  of 
their  troopers,  driven  into  Powerscourt,  surrendered  to  Stanley  and 
were  half  of  them  hung. 

Parliament  in  Jmie,  1556,  convened  at  Dublin  for  the  first  time 
since  1542.  Chancellor  Cusack  read  to  the  assembly  on  their  knees, 
a  bull  from  Pole  the  legate  extending  full  absolution  for  the  past, 
confirming  disposition  of  benefices,  marriages,  dispensations  and 
land  grants  during  the  schism,  and  enjoining  the  restoration  of 
glebes  and  repeal  of  all  laws  against  papal  supremacy.  This  was 
followed  by  a  Te  Deum  in  the  cathedral  and  other  thanksgiving  for 
reunion  with  Rome.  Acts  passed  declaring  the  queen  born  in  law- 
ful wedlock,  punishing  treason  and  heresy,  repealing  all  acts  against 
the  holy  see  since  1529,  reestablishing  the  papal  authority,  discharg- 
ing the  pay  meat  of  first  fruits  to  the  crown,  restoring  the  rectories 
and  other  church  property,  reserving  only  lands  granted  to  the  laity. 
A  suljsidy  of  thirteen  and  four-pence  for  every  ploughland  was 
granted  to  drive  out  the  Scots.  It  was  constituted  high  treason  to 
invite  them  into  Ireland,  and  felony  to  intennarry  with  them  without 
license  from  the  deputy.  Leix  with  Upper  Ossory ,  a  portion  of  Offaly 
west  of  the  Barrow,  Portnahinch  belonging  to  O'Dunn,  Tinnahinch 
to  O'Dempsey,  was  made  Queen's  County,  with  Maryborough  for 


342  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

its  shiretown  ;  OfFaly,  east  and  west,  belonged  to  Kildare  ;  but  Ely 
and  Delvin  and  other  portions  of  the  O'Connor  territory,  Geashill, 
Warrenstown  and  Coolistown,  with  upper  and  lower  Phillipetown,  or 
Dengen  for  its  shire  town,  into  Kings.  Power  was  given  the  deputy 
to  make  grants  with  such  reservation  of  rent  as  he  judged  expedient. 
A  commission  was  authorized  to  view  other  waste  parts  of  the  island, 
to  reduce  them  into  counties  and  hundreds.  Poynings  law  as  then 
amended,  so  that  after  parliament  met  new  measures  approved  by  the 
crown  could  be  introduced,  remained  unchanged  down  to  the  union 
in  1800. 

The  October  before  William  Fitzwilliam,  John  Allen  and  Valen- 
tine Browne  had  been  sent  over  as  commissioners  of  crown  lands,  and 
jrrants  were  soon  made  of  the  new  counties.  Donoo-h  O'Conor  now 
chief  of  OfFaly  and  Connal  O'Moore,  indignant  at  the  confiscation  of 
their  domains  and  dominions,  flew  to  arms.  Arrested  they  were  re- 
leased upon  the  interposition  of  Kildare  and  Ormond,  but  soon  after 
again  captured  O'Moore  withMacMorrogh  his  ally  and  several  O'Con- 
nors were  executed  at  Leighlin  ^  MacCoghlan  in  Kings  and  O'Maddens 
from  Connaught  took  Fadden  ;  but  driven  out,  and  posted  at  Meelick, 
the  deputy,  with  cannon  boated  down  the  Shannon  from  Athlone, 
forced  them  to  give  hostages  and  garrisoned  the  place.  He  then 
attacked  the  O'Conors  and  O'Moores,  O'Carrols  and  Mulloys  and 
in  the  forests  of  Fircal  in  Kings  and  vanquished  them,  O'Carrol 
owing  his  escape  to  the  speed  of  his  horse. 

Scots  from  the  Hebrides  attacked  Clanaboy,  killing  Hugh  O'Neil 
its  lord,  whereupon  the  English,  to  weaken  the  sept,  divided  the  coun- 
try between  two  chiefs,  Phelim  Duv  and  Baccagh.  Fitzwalter  soon 
after  his  arrival  vanquished  the  Scots  at  Carickfergus,  the  young  Or- 
mond and  Stanley,  lord  marshal,  gaining  distinction  in  the  fight. 
After  visiting  Munster  and  receiving  submission  from  MacCarthy 
and  other  chieftains,  and  in  September  making  peace  with  Shane 
O'Neil,  and  the  O'Conors  at  Dengen,  he  devastated  in  October  the 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  343 

country  about  Dundalk,  Xewry  and  Armnoh,  Called  to  England 
in  1557  he  first  took  hostages  from  O'Carrol,  O'MoHoy,  Mageoghan, 
Dunn,  MacCoghlan  and  the  two  O'jNIaddens  of  Silanchie. 

During  his  absence  Sydney  with  Curvvin  the  archbishop  assumed 
charge  of  affairs.  As  soon  as  the  mass  which  prepared  them  for  their 
duty  was  over,  Sydney  marched  again  into  Fircal  against  Arthur 
O'Molloy,  and  giving  him  neither  rest  nor  peace  drove  him  into  exile, 
setting  up  his  brother  Theobald  in  his  place.  Again  war  raged  from 
the  Shannon  to  Dublin  and  Cork.  O'Carrol  took  Leap,  but  soon 
again  sought  safety  in  flight. 

In  April,  1558,  O'Reilly,  Hugh  son  of  ^Nlaelmora  and  Margaret 
daughter  of  Hugh  Duv  O'Donnel,  lord  of  East  Brefny  or  Cavan, 
visited  the  deputy  at  Kilmainham  and  entered  into  an  agreement  not 
to  harbor  O'Moore  or  O'Connor,  but  to  keep  the  peace.  It  .was 
farther  stipulated  that  English  money  should  be  received  within  his 
possessions  at  its  due  value.  In  1567  Hugh  entered  into  another 
agreement  of  similar  import.  His  death  and  that  of  his  wife  Isabella 
Barnwall  are  mentioned  as  taking  place  in  1583,  when  Cavan  was 
divided  among  four  descendants  of  his  father  Maelmora.  His  son 
John  was  knighted,  but  the  statement  of  Moore,  that  he  himself  was 
created  in  1560  baron  of  Cavan  and  earl  of  Brenny  as  promised  by 
Henry  VIII. ,  would  appear  ro  be  an  error.  Edmund  was  chosen 
chieftain  in  1598  after  the  death  of  John.  Shane  O'Neil  also  that 
year  went  to  Kilmainham  for  a  friendly  conference.  Donogh  O'Con- 
or  submitted  at  Dengen,  but  he  soon  after  was  again  driven  into 
hostilities,  and  in  1558  his  death  at  the  hands  of  O'Dempsy  "  left  the 
Hy-Faly  feeble,  the  Barrow  and  all  Leinster  in  grief." 

Returning  with  reinforcements  in  April,  1558,  Fitzwalter,  now 
earl  of  Sussex  by  the  death  of  his  father,  marched  to  the  relief 
of  Conor  earl  of  Thomond,  then  at  \yar  with  his  uncle  Donald, 
taking  Clonroad,  Bunratty  and  Clare  from  the  latter,  whom  he 
banished,  and  established  the  earl  in  his  place,  "greatly  to  the  con- 


344  ■  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

sternation    of   Banba,*  and    grief  of    the  descendants  of    Con,   of 
Cathoir,  of  Ith  and  Ir,  of  Heremon  and  Heber." 

Proceeding  to  Limerick,  lie  stood  sponsor  to  James  Sussex,  in- 
fant son  of  Desmond  by  Honora  daughter  of  MacCarthy  Mor.  To 
the  child  he  presented  a  chain  of  gold,  and  to  Dermod,  lord  of 
Muskerry,  gilded  spurs  with  the  honor  of  knighthood.  Desmond 
not  long  surviving  this  festal  occasion  was  much  lamented,  for  whilst 
he  lived  need  had  been  none  to  watch  cattle  or  close  door  from  Dun- 
quin  by  the  w^estern  sea  to  where  Suir,  Nore  and  Barrow  mingled 
their  w^aters.  It  was  not  he  but  his  brother  ]Maurice  that  killed  the 
court  page,  to  whose  taking  off  he  owed  his  elevation.  Known  in  his 
earlier  years  by  the  English  as  the  traitor  earl,  he  had  been  since  gen- 
erally peaceable  and  kept  to  the  last  the  treasurership  of  the  island. 
He  had  repudiated  his  first  wife  Joan  Roche,  on  the  score  of  consan- 
guinity, bestowing  on  Thomas  Ruagh  his  son  by  her,  Killnataloon  and 
Castlemore,  whilst  his  second  son  Gerald  by  Mora  O'Carrol  succeed- 
ed as  fifteenth  earl  to  forfeit  twenty-five  years  later  life  and  land. 

In  September  the  lord  lieutenant  left  Dublin  by  sea  for  the  north, 
encountering  a  severe  gale  on  the  coast.  He  drove  off  the  Scots  from 
Rachlin  and  then  laid  waste  Cantyreand  Arran,  the  Scotch  territories 
of  the  ]\IacDonnels,  and  on  his  way  back  harried  their  settlements  in 
Ulster.  Two  of  their  captains  Donald  Campbell  and  Dowell  INIac- 
Allen  had  been  in  the  service  of  Calvagh  of  Tirconnell,  and  for  fame 
and  booty  had  invaded  Connaught.  Marching  through  Carbury, 
Tireril,  Gailenga  and  Tirawley,  Mac  William  oughter  of  Mayo 
joined  them.  AVhen  Richard  second  earl  of  Clanrickard  heard  of 
their  approach  he  gathered  an  army,  clad  for  the  most  part  in  mail 
and  supplied  with  ordnance,  and  drove  them  into  tlie  Moy.  Both 
Donal  and  Dowell  fell  in  the  battle,  "  which  was  a  loss  as  their 
ransom  would  have  been  grgat."  The  power  of  the  Scots  in  the 
land  was  greatly  reduced  by  this  disaster  to  their  arms. 

*  An  ancient  name  of  Ireland. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  345 

Reference  lias  already  been  made  to  two  defeats  sustained  by  Wil- 
liam O'CaiToll  from  the  English  at  Kincorca.  Teigue  his  elder 
brother,  created  in  1551  baron  of  Ely,  had  lost  his  life  in  contention 
with  his  cousin  Calvagh  son  of  Donogh  for  the  chieftainship,  and  Wil- 
liam had  avenged  his  death.  Their  mother,  daughter  of  the  ninth  Kil- 
dare,  was  sister  of  the  existing  earl.  A^'illianl  had  recovered  the  family 
castle  of  Lea}),  and  rule  over  Ely,  but  was  not  permitted  in  peace  to 
possess  them,  and  at  Kincorca  in  1558  barely  effected  his  escape. 
"  Many  youths  and  warriors  were  there  «lain ,  and  among  them  INIorogh 
MacSweeny  of  Banagh,  constable  of  the  Dalgais,  an  office  difterent 
members  of  that  warlike  race  held  under  various  chieftains,  not  only 
in  Ulster  but  in  other  portions  of  the  island.  The  next  year  making 
a  captain's  expedition  against  Mac-I-brian-ara*,  O'Carrol  devastated 
his  country  from  Ballina  to  Ardcrony,  slaying  his  brother  Morogh. 
The  chief  of  Ara  retaliated,  but  all  his  fighting  men  were  cut  off  in- 
cluding Heremon  MacSweeney  his  constable,  and  he  himself  taken 
prisoner  was  held  to  ransom.  Williamf  later  making  his  peace  with 
the  English,  was  knighted  and  acknowledged  captain  of  his  coun- 
try by  Sydney  in  1561,  but  that  position  was  his  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  transmitted  by  him  to  his  natural  son  Calvagh. 

Whatever  sanguine  expectations  chief  or  sept  had  early  indulged 
that  a  queen  of  their  own  faith  would  respect  their  rights  and  pro- 
mote their  welfare,  were  speedily  and  rudely  dispelled.  Mary, 
engrossed  in  affairs  at  home,  by  foreign  war  or  diplomacy,  could 
hardly  be  held  responsible  for  Irish  administration.  Her  only  idea 
was  to  increase  her  revenues,  expel  the  Scots  and  plague  the  rebels. 
The  government  had  little  changed  in  its  objects  or  policy,  and  the 
Irish  were  more   harshly  and   unjustly  treated  than   ever.       Even 

»  Turlogh,  son  of  Murtogh  son  of  Donnel,  son  of  Turlogh,  son  of  Murrogli  nrt  raith- 
nigne. 

t  Vide  page  242.  His  grandson  Roger  was  deprived  by  Cromwell,  but  his  son  Charles 
received  from  James  II.  sixty  thousand  acres  in  Maryland;  his  grandson  Charles  of  Car- 
rolton  1737-1832  was  the  signer  of  the  declaration  of  American  independence,  and  grand- 
father of  Lady  Wellesley  and  dutchess  of  Leeds — his  brother  John  first  catholic  bishop  of 
Baltimore ;  and  a  scion  of  this  ancient  stock  is  the  present  governor  of  Maryland, 
44 


346  TRANSFER      OF      EEIN. 

Sussex  in  bad  company  fell  into  evil  courses.  In  October,  1557,  on 
a  visit  to  Louth  and  the  Plunkets  he  sent  out  troops  from  Dundalk  to 
gather  a  prey  from  Shane  O'Neil.  He  encamped  in  the  cathedral 
of  Armaoh,  which  with  three  other  churches  as  well  as  the  town  it- 
self  were  plundered  and  burnt.  The  burning  was  probably  accidental 
and  tlie  loot  went  to  his  men.  But  when  after  fruitless  search  for 
an  enemy  they  had  gathered  in  the  flocks  and  herds  and  were  on  thqir 
way  home,  he  divided  the  spoil  with  the  rest. 

The  wretched  queen,  gloomy  in  temperament  and  with  more  fear 
than  faith  in  her  religion,  afflicted  by  a  complication  of  disorders, 
heart  broken  at  the  desertion  of  her  husband,  mourning  over  the 
loss  of  Calais,  the  gates  of  France,  as  a  personal  bereavement,  and 
visited  probably  by  some  compunction  for  the  victims  of  an  intole- 
rance, which  had  defeated  its  object,  lingered  along  to  her  forty 
second  year.  Death,  on  the  seventeenth  of  November,  1558,  came 
to  her  relief.  Her  cousin  and  father-in-law,  the  great  emperor, 
Charles  the  fifth,  had  preceded  her  to  the  tomb  but  a  few  weeks  ; 
Pole  died  the  following  day.  The  earthly  career  of  Stephen  Gardi- 
ner, bishop  of  Winchester,  who  had  also  guided  her  policy  and 
directed  her  conscience  the  first  two  years  of  her  reign,  closed  in 
November,  1555,  just  one  month  after  Latimer  and  Ridley  perished 
at  the  stake.  Narrow-minded  and  bigoted,  "  bloody  Mary"  obeyed 
her  own  sense  of  right  in  her  cruelties,  nor  are  these  to  be  ascribed 
so  much  to  Pole,  whose  cliaracter  was  mild  and  amiable,  as  to  her 
husband,  Philip  of  Sjiain.  To  that  husband,  called  by  protestants 
"  the  demon  of  the  south,''  notwithstanding  his  unfeigned  indifference, 
she  clung  with  all  a  woman's  fondness.  She  wasted  the  national 
treasure  in  his  wars,  pledging  to  please  him  her  own  credit  and  that 
of  England  for  two  hundred  thousand  marks.  At  his  dictation  the 
axe  and  stake  desolated  the  homes  of  her  people,  to  whom  the  catholic 
faith  as  represented  by  him  became  abhorrent. 

The  cardinal  exerted  what  influence  he  might  to  stay  her  san- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  347 

giiinary  proceedings.  But  accused  by  the  pope  of  screening  schis- 
matics he  was  forced  to  be  prudent,  which  his  family  experiences  also 
counselled.  His  brother  Henry  in  1539,  on  suspicion  of  furthering 
his  own  preferment  to  the  throne,  his  excellent  mother  INIargaret  of 
Salisbury  in  1541  at  the  age  of  seventy  for  no  other  fault  than  that  of 
being  the  last  Plantao-enet,  her  brother  Edward  in  1499  for  no  better 
reason,  had  all  been  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill ;  whilst  his  grandfather 
George  of  Clarence  in  1477  had  been  drowned  by  his  brother  Edward 
IV.  in  the  butt  of  malmsey.  His  own  death  was  timely.  Had  he 
em'vived  and  remained  in  England,  popular  clamor  would  have  de- 
manded his  death  as  amends  for  that  of  his  predecessor  Cranmer ; 
had  he  escaped,  Rome  would  have  afforded  him  no  safe  asylum. 


XXXHI. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602. 
Contention  for  the  crown  and  natural  desire  to  keep  it  had  proved 
as  fatal  to  the  royal  famihes  of  England,  as  for  Irish  chieftainships 
to  the  roydamnas.  Elizabeth,  when  in  her  twenty-fifth  year  she 
crossed  the  threshold  of  her  long  and  brilliant  reign,  stood  in  the 
world  peculiarly  alone.  She  had  few  intimates,  fewer  kinsfolk. 
She  was  almost  the  solitary  survivor  of  Tudor  and  Plantagenet. 
Henry  Carey  and  his  sister,  lady  Knollys,  were  her  first  cousins, 
the  Howards  more  remote ;  whilst  Mary  of  Scots,  who  alone  dispu- 
ted her  right,  as  a  catholic  and  dauphiness  of  France,  though  her 
nearest  paternal  relative,  was  more  of  kin  than  kind.  Adversity 
and  the  exigencies  of  her  position  had  made  her  wary,  and  her  dupli- 
city, the  most  conspicuous  trait  of  her  character,  grew  out  of  the 
instinct  of  self  preservation.  Her  brother-in-law,  Philip  of  Spain, 
long  indulged  the  fond  expectation  of  winning  her  consent  to  become 
his  wife.     But  though  not  discouraging  his  suit,  and  turning  it  to 


348  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

account  in  conciliating  the  favor  of  her  catholic  subjects,  three-fourths 
even  in  England  of  them  all,  and  in  seeking  to  persuade  the  Pope  to 
recognize  the  validity  of  her  mother's  marriage  and  her  own  legiti- 
macy, she  finally  gave  De  Feria  his  minister  to  understand  that  such 
an  alliance  would  not  be  best  either  for  herself  or  for  England. 
Yet  when  Philip,  after  the  treaty  of  Cambray  had  secured  to  her  the 
prospective  restoration  of  Calais  and  relieved  her  of  solicitude  as  to 
war  with  France,  married  Elizabeth  daughter  of  Henry  II.,  she  ex- 
pressed surprise  that  he  should  not  have  waited  a  few  months  longer. 
Her  court  Avas  eager  for  her  marriage ;  and  Ferdinand  of  Austria, 
Arundel,  Pickering  and  Arran,  next  in  succession  after  Mary  to  the 
Scottish  throne,  were  in  turn  suggested  for  her  hand.  But  an  inter- 
view with  the  latter  ended  without  the  result  anticipated,  and  wdiat 
heart  she  had  to  bestow  had  been  given  at  fifteen  to  Thomas  Sey- 
mour, or  later  to  Robert  Dudley,  with  whom  she  had  been  intimate 
when  they  were  together  prisoners  in  the  tower.  Dudley's  wife  Amy 
Robsart,  dying  of  cancer  at  Cumnor,  was  hurried  out  of  life,  as  an  im- 
pediment to  their  union,  but  the  queen  though  still  infatuated  with  her 
handsome  lover  was  too  sensible  to  entrust  herself  to  his  keeping. 

Her  earlier  life  of  seclusion  or  confinement  had  not  been  idle.  Her 
active  mind  found  solace  in  literary  pursuits,  and  her  natural  abilities 
had  been  developed  and  strengthened  by  familiarity  with  various  lan- 
guages, living  or  classical,  by  acquisitions  in  many  branches  of 
learnino:.  Her  trainins;  had  not  tended  to  render  her  conscientious 
or  devout.  She  was  a  free  thinker  in  religion,  ridiculing  the  impor- 
tance attached  to  dogma  and  rite,  yet  conforming  to  what  opinion 
about  her  demanded  as  expedient  or  of  good  reputation.  Vain,  vacilla- 
ting, mendacious,  her  wonderful  tact,  rather  the  inspiration  of  genius 
than  the  result  of  any  process  of  reasoning,  carried  her  through 
entanglements,  which  often  foiled  her  wisest  counsellors. 

If  those  she  selected  afford  the  test,  her  sagacity  can  hardly  be 
too  highly  commended.    Sir  William  Cecil,  afterwards  lord  Burleigh,* 

*  1570. 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  349 

her  most  trusted  adviser  as  slie  ascended  the  throne,  for  forty  years 
retained  an  influence  over  her  mind  rarely  disturbed,  and  though 
governed  implicitly  by  the  advice  of  no  one,  unless  where  coinciding 
with  her  own  convictions,  to  his  wisdom  and  consummate  statesman- 
ship must  in  large  measure  be  ascribed  the  glory  atlending  l.cr 
reign.  It  was  his  policy  to  attain  his  objects  by  yielding  to  obstacles 
where  not  easily  surmounted,  and  his  peculiar  traits  and  habits  of 
thought  in  their  long  and  intimate  intercourse,  had  their  effect  in 
shaping  her  own.  His  brother-in-law,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  as  chan- 
cellor shared  with  him  in  her  confidence,  and  AYalsingham,  though 
crafty  and  even  less  scrupulous,  was  perhaps  for  that  better  fitted  for 
her  schemes.  They  were  all  protestant,  even  bigoted  protestants, 
but  not  to  the  degree  of  punishing  religious  contumacy  with  death. 

For  a  time  the  cabinet  of  England,  employed  in  foreign  politics, 
paid  little  heed  to  Ireland.  As  soon  as  pacific  relations  with  France 
and  Spain,  wdiose  mutual  jealousies  fretted  by  diplomacy  constituted 
her  safety,  permitted  the  attempt,  parliament,  reduced  to  sixty-three 
lay  peers,  only  one  half  of  whom  and  rarely  more  than  ten  prelates 
were  often  in  attendance,  and  the  commons  representing  the  nation, 
neither  in  numbers,  influence  or  f:iith,  repudiated  Catholicism.  In 
Scotland  the  reformation  was  gaining  ground,  when  the  death  of 
Francis  II.,  in  December  1560,  six  months  after  his  accession,  brought 
home  the  widowed  queen.  Affectionate  loyalty  deepened  by  her  mis- 
fortunes changed  into  detestation,  when  six  years  later,  her  third 
husband,  Bothwell,  murdered  her  second,  Darnley ,  and  what  little  rev- 
erence remained  for  her  faith  became  chilled.  Rome  parted  reluctant- 
ly with  her  subject  nations.  Ireland  continued  true  and  had  besides 
other  grounds  of  disaffection.  It  was  through  her  that  England  was 
most  vulnerable,  and  though  her  consolidation  in  faith,  laws,  letters 
and  loyalty  involved  many  embarrassments,  this  was  the  task  the 
queen  and  her  ministers  were  set  upon  accomplishing. 
When  Elizabeth  succeeded  in  1558  all  Ireland  was  Catholic.    Leix 


350  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

and  OfFaly  had  been  added  to  the  pale.  The  rest  was  occupied  by 
the  septs,  or  by  English  earls  who  held  but  limited  allegiance.  Con- 
or of  Tliomoud  Avas  loyal,  and  all  the  McCarthies.  Had  toleration 
and  respect  for  right  evinced  at  this  period  the  most  distant  idea  of 
religious  obligation,  or  Avhat  christian  faith  and  precept  demanded, 
Ireland  might  have  been  spared  her  misery,  England  her  shame. 
But  Sussex  on  his  return  under  orders  of  the  queen  called  a  packed 
parliament,  which  disingenuously  meeting  on  St.  Bridget's  day,  when 
the  catholic  lords  greatly  in  the  ascendancy  were  not  notified,  and 
did  not  suspect  the  design,  reestablished  Protestantism,  imposing 
heavy  penalties  for  disobedience  on  a  whole  people  of  the  opposite 
faith. 

Con  Baccagh,  earl  of  Tyrone,  after  a  life  of  more  than  four  score 
years,  spent  without  blemish  or  reproach,  died  as  Elizabeth  came  to  the 
throne.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  had  ruled  over  Tyr  Owen  with 
good  sense  and  judgment ;  and  if  often  in  arms,  hostilities  were  less 
of  his  seeking  than  forced  upon  him  by  his  neighbors.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  illiterate  from  having  affixed  his  seal,  and  not  his  signature 
to  an  address  ;  but  there  is  evidence  enough  of  the  aspersion  being 
groundless.  In  1551  he  procured,  and  entrusted  to  Dovvdal,  archbishop 
of  Armagii,  tlie  life  of  John  de  Courcy,  to  translate,  and  with  an 
English  mother  and  wife,  daughters  of  earls,  it  seems  fair  to  suppose 
that  he  was  not  oidy  a  good  penman  but  familiar  with  English,  Latin 
and  Gaelic,  then  the  language  of  his  sept.  After  the  death  of  Alice 
Fitzgerald,  he  married  jNIary  MacDonnell,  daughter  of  Alexander 
of  Lecale.  Her  two  brothers  sent  by  him  to  collect  rent  of  the 
MacArtans  were  slain  b}^  Brcreton,  engendering  animosities  still 
rank  a  dozen  years  after.  Mary  was  detained  a  prisoner  in  Scotland, 
not  long  before  the  death  of  her  husband.  Dungannon  for  centuries 
the  home  of  his  forefathers  had  been  abandoned  to  Ferdoragh,  the 
castles  of  Dundrum,  Fedan  and  Benburb,  seven  miles  north  of  Ar- 
magh, taking  its  place. 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  351 

No  time  was  lost,  and  Shane  received  tlie  suffrages  of  tlie  se})t  as 
lord  of  Tvr  Owen  as  liis  father  passed.  AA'hat  o])|)()rtunities  were 
either  allowed  or  improved  by  him  for  cdueation,  can  only  be  con- 
jectured from  his  correspondence  and  course.  l)oth  indicated  culture 
highly  respectable  for  the  period.  Kepresented  as  an  untutored  sav- 
age by  prejudiced  historians,  whilst  three  fourths  English  in  race, 
his  barbarisms  if  running  in  the  blood  nuist  have  been  derived  from 
the  Geraldines,  not  from  Irish  ])rogenitors,  from  either  Con,  from 
Henry  or  Owen,  all  refined  in  character  and  noble  in  nature.  It 
was  the  policy  of  England  to  crush  him  as  dangerous,  and  what 
could  not  be  easily  effected  by  honest  warfare,  dagger  or  poison, 
was  attempted  by  calumny  and  misrepresentation.  Gerald  of  Kil- 
dare,  his  cousin,  was  his  steadfast  friend,  Sydney  and  Sussex  evi- 
dently respected  him,  and  his  intimacy  after  his  visit  to  the  queen, 
with  the  principal  leaders  of  her  court,  has  left  its  mark  in  letters 
that  speak  well  for  his  talents,  scholarship  and  character.  He  was 
sufficiently  astute  to  baffle  the  (pieen  and  her  cabinet  in  negotiation, 
and  the  points  he  raised  were  not  easily  answered. 

Sussex  came  and  went.  He  did  not  like  Ireland,  but  his  importuni- 
ties to  be  recalled  had  little  effect.  Sydney  held  sway,  when  in  the 
February  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  he  proceeded  to  Dundalk, 
forty  miles  from  the  capital,  near  the  gates  of  Ulster,  to  fortify  the 
pale  and  confer  with  Shane.  His  own  invitation  declined,  Shane 
proposed  instead  that  he  should  visit  him  at  Fedan  six  miles  out  of 
the  town  and  stand  godfather  for  his  child,  as  Sussex  had  the  year 
before  for  Desmond's,  and  be  his  gossip.  It  was  the  eldest  son  Henry 
by  Mary  O'Donnel.  The  lord  justice  was  hospitably  and  sumptu- 
ously entertained.  After  the  ceremony  he  expressed  regret  that 
Shane  was  not  more  peaceably  inclined.  ONcil  urged  as  his  ground 
of  dissatisfaction,  the  disposition  to  recognize  Brian  son  of  Eerdoragh 
as  chief  of  Tyrone.  Eerdoragh  was  at  least  illegitimate,  and  as  he 
thought,    spurious,    in  all   probability  being  the   son   of  Kelly  the 


352  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

blacksmith  of  Dandalk.  That  his  father's  surrender  of  what  did  not 
belong  to  him  but  to  the  sept  was  void  under  Irish  law,  and  that 
English  law  had  never  been  extended  to  Tyrone  ;  that  he  was  himself 
the  lawful  heir  and  chosen  by  the  sept,  and  among  its  other  members 
would  fall  the  succession  in  the  event  of  his  removal.  These  sugges- 
tions had  weight ;  they  were  later  submitted  to  English  lawyers, 
who  in  vain  sought  to  resist  their  force,  but  set  up  as  rendering  valid 
the  grant  to  Con  and  Ferdoragli,  the  concession  to  Con  Mor  of 
Enolish  ri2:hts:  at  his  own  solicitation. 

The  queen  recognizing  either  the  strength  of  his  position  or  the 
reasonableness  of  his  demands,  acquiesced^  and  for  a  year  Shane  afford- 
ed no  cause  for  discontent.  Early  in  15(il  some  of  his  men  pursuing 
Felim  Roe  O'Neil,  who  after  depredations  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
pale,  burnt  three  villages  belonging  to  -lord  Slane.  Sussex  Avas  not 
friendly,  and  correspondence  ensued  more  frank  than  courteous.  Up- 
on his  representations  home,  he  was  ordered  to  proceed  into  Ulster 
and  substitute  Brian  in  Shane's  place.  Whilst  the  queen  was  thus 
directing  Sussex  to  invade  Tyrone,  secretly  practising  upon  the  earl 
of  Argyle,  James  MacDonnel  and  his  brother  Sorley  Boy  to  render 
aid,  and  sending  robes  and  coronets  to  create  Calvagh  earl  of  Tyr- 
connel,  and  O'Reilly  lord  of  Cavan  and  earl  of  Brenny,  in  order  to 
enlist  them  in  th^  cause,  she  was  urging  Shane  to  pay  her  a  friendly 
visit  at  court  that  his  complaints  might  be  considered.  The  wife  of 
Calvagh,  Julia  Maclean,  widow  of  the  third  earl  of  Argyle,  ar- 
rived in  Donegal  at  the  same  time  with  two  thousand  men  to  further 
her  designs.  This  double  dealing  could  not  escape  the  vigilance  of 
Shane,  and  to  be  beforehand  with  his  enemies  gathering  for  his  over- 
throw, he  marched  speedily  into  Tyrconnel  in  May,  capturing  Calvagh 
and  his  wife  at  the  monastery  of  Killodonnel  on  Lough  Foyle. 
Sussex  forthwith  collected  an  army  and  proceeded  to  Armagh,  which 
he  garrisoned  and  strongly  fortified,  and  when  it  was  menaced  by 
Shane,  marched  back  to  its  defence. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  353 

Shane  whilst  constructing  new  castles,  one  on  Lake  Neagh,  strong- 
ly fortified,  which  he  called  Foonegal  or  "  Hate  of  Englishmen,"  wrote 
an  earnest  and  manly  letter  to  the  lord  lieutenant  not  to  wage  an 
expensive  and  useless  war  against  him,  and  declaring  that  he  could  not 
ask  for  peace  or  truce  until  all  troops  were  withdrawn  from  his  coun- 
try. Towards  the  close  of  July  an  engagement  took  place  resulting 
in  a  triumpli  for  him.  Sussex,  who  was  not  present  but  attending 
the  sick  bed  of  Ormond,  wrote  that  "  never  before  durst  Scotch  or 
Irishman  look  an  Englishman  in  the  face  in  a  plain  three  miles  from 
any  wood,  but  with  half  their  number  Shane  had  charged  the  whole 
army,  and  the  fame  of  the  English  so  hardly  gotten  had  vanished.' 
Utterly  demoralized  Sussex  withdrew  all  his  forces  but  the  garrison 
at  Armagh.  Such  a  decided  victory  over  an  invading  army  more  nu- 
merous than  his  own  Avas  an  occurrence  too  rare  not  to  create  a 
sense  of  elation  and  power,  and  Calvagh  his  prisoner,  Tyrconnel 
subjugated,  Shane  assumed  command  of  the  north  from  Drogheda  to 
the  Erne,  and  might  well  regard  himself  as  having  reached  the  acme 
of  his  ambition,  and  all  but  in  name  king  of  Ulster,  as  had  been  his 
progenitors. 

The  Irish  earls,  Ormond,  Thoraond,  Desmond  and  Clanrickard, 
hastened  to  camp.  Sussex  corrupted  Shane's  seneschal  and  Neil 
Gray  his  messenger  to  assassinate  him,  which  he  mentions  the  24th 
of  August,  as  if  nothing  remarkable  to  the  queen,  who  so  far  from 
expressing  disapproval  or  indignation  at  the  proposition  regretted  its 
miscarriage,  and  the  next  year  the  council  recommended  that  the  at- 
tempt should  be  repeated.  This  vile  plot  to  make  way  by  assassi- 
nation with  an  enemy  not  to  be  conquered  in  the  field,  seems  not  to 
have  been  immediately  divulged  to  its  intended  victim,  and  it  is 
quite  possible  that  seneschal  and  messenger  while  not  unwilling  to 
learn  what  might  be  designed  by  the  viceroy,  and  yet  aware  of  the 
danger  to  themselves  of  betraying  his  confidence,  kept  their  own 

counsel  till  the  danger  was  past,  without  swerving  from  fidelity  to 
45 


354  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

their  chief.  This  was  not  a  solitary  instance  of  like  perfidy  in  Irish 
administration.  A  few  years  later  occurred  another  of  the  kind,  in 
which  the  crime  was  consummated,  and  many  more  varying  in  char- 
acter, and  oftener  on  a  grander  scale,  equally  flagitious,  are  found  in 
its  annals. 

Embittered  against  O'Neil,  possibly  from  not  having  been  able  to 
effect  his  purpose,  and  averse  to  any  temporizing  policy,  believing, 
as  he  wrote  Cecil,  "  that  if  Shane  were  overthrown  all  could  be  set- 
tled, but  that  if  any  settlement  were  made  with  him  all  that  was 
settled  would  be  overthrown,"  the  lord  lieutenant  prepared  for  a  gen- 
eral hosting.  Unwilling  that  the  chief  should  regain  favor  with  the 
queen,  his  despatches  were  kept  back,  and  he  effectually  intrigued 
to  stir  up  strife  between  him  and  his  subordinates.  After  waiting 
awhile  for  money  and  men,  for  his  troops  were  discontented  from 
three  years  arrear  of  pay,  he  marched  north  early  in  September, 
sweeping  Glenconkine  in  Tyrone  of  four  thousand  kine  and  numer- 
ous horses,  without  meeting  opposition,  though  Shane  the  next 
month  retaliated  by  raiding  the  pale  and  burning  four  villages.  Kil- 
dare  sent  over  to  negotiate  and  invite  Shane  to  court  at  last  reached 
the  camp,  and  on  parley  prevailed  upon  him  to  come  to  terms.  On 
the  nineteenth  of  October,  the  council  consenting  that  Armagh  should 
be  evacuated  when  he  went,  and  money  advanced  to  pay  his  way, 
the  chief  agreed  to  go  over  to  London  as  requested,  Gerald  be- 
coming surety  for  his  safe  return. 

Suitable  garments  for  court  demanded  time  for  preparation.  The 
money  promised,  three  thousand  pounds,  came  slow.  Calvagh  and 
his  wife  were  his  prisoners  at  Benborb.  Some  years  before  Shane  had 
been  an  unsuccessful  suitor  to  a  sister  of  Argyle,  whether  the  sister- 
in-law  Calvagh  had  recently  married  is  not  stated.  Shane  had  then 
soothed  his  disappointment  by  espousing  Mary  daughter  of  Calvagh, 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons  Henry  and  Art.  One  principal  vexation  of 
his  life  had  been  the  preference  of  Ferdoragh  to  himself  in  the  patent 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  355 

of  the  earldom  to  his  father,  and  now  as  reward  for  cooperation  in 
his  attempted  overthrow,  his  father-in-law  and  feudatory  O'Reily  were 
to  be  made  earls,  and  an  interloper  perhaps  forced  upon  his  own  right- 
ful inheritance.  The  attempt  to  assassinate  him  still  farther  fretted  his 
temper,  though  he  speaks  of  it  in  his  letters  with  indifference.  This 
may  have  been  feigned.  It  did  not  prevent  his  repairing  to  court 
where  Ormond  twenty  years  before  had  been  poisoned. 

Daily  harassed  by  the  queen's  waywardness,  if  cruel  to  Calvagh, 
allowance  must  be  made.  We  are  told  by  the  annalists  that  Mary 
his  wife  "died  of  horror,  loathing,  grief  and  deep  anguish,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  severity  of  the  imprisonment  inflicted  on  her  father  by 
Shane  in  her  presence."  She  could  not  have  survived  long  to  suffer, 
for  by  the  ninth  of  August,  Shane  had  been  long  enough  a  widower 
to  propose  to  Sussex,  asonemodeof  preserving  a  good  understanding 
between  them,  to  take  his  sister  Frances  to  wife.  Mary  may  have 
been  feeble  in  health,  and  distress  at  angry  words  or  cruel  treatment 
of  her  parent  may  have  hastened  her  death,  but  the  "Four  Masters" 
compiled  in  Donegal  are  less  reliable  when  commenting  on  what 
concerns  their  own  princes  and  may  not  have  been  exact  as  to  dates. 

Though  at  last  ready  to  take  his  departure,  and  meeting  as  agreed, 
Ormond  and  Kildare  at  Carrickabradog  the  English  garrison  still 
remained  at  Armagh.  His  cousin  Gerald,  whose  professions  of 
friendship  he  had  no  reason  to  distrust,  urged  him  to  waive  for  a 
while  his  claim  to  its  being  withdrawn,  giving  him  assurance  that  it 
should  not  during  his  absence  harm  either  his  people  or  chiefs.  When 
actually  in  English  power  he  was  subjected  to  the  indignity  of  hand- 
cuffs on  his  wrists,  probably  a  precaution  against  his  changing  his 
mind.  Crossing  over  in  December  he  was  received  by  Cecil  and 
other  members  of  the  council  and  the  ceremonial  arranged  for  his 
reception  by  the  queen. 

On  the  sixth  day  of  January,  1562,  attended  by  a  band  of  gallo- 
glasses,  armed  with  axes,  bareheaded,  their  long  curling  hair  about 


356  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

their  shoulders ,  in  saffron  shirts  with  long  sleeves,  short  coats,  and 
hairy  mantles  or  wolfskins  on  their  backs,  and  led  by  his  constable 
MacSweeny,  "  O'Neil  the  great,  cousin  to  St.  Patrick,  friend  to  the 
queen  of  England,  enemy  to  all  the  world  besides,"  proceeded  from 
his  lodgings  through  the  streets  of  London  to  the  royal  presence,  and 
there  after  customary  homage  before  the  court  and  foreign  am- 
bassadors stated  the  injuries  which  had  goaded  him  to  hostilities. 
The  queen  received  him  with  becoming  courtesy,  but  deferred  her 
answer  till  the  baron  of  Dungannon  should  arrive.  When  the  de- 
lay alarmed  him  and  he  proposed  to  go  home  relying  on  his  protection, 
he  was  given  to  understand  that  that'  document  had  been  carefully 
worded  and  mentioned  no  time  for  his  return.  He  was  equal  to  the 
occasion,  and  his  letters  to  the  queen  and  her  ministers,  his  intimacy 
with  the  Spanish  ambassador  and  a  boldness  that  defied  so  gross  an 
injustice  and  departure  from  propriety,  had  their  effect.  And  when 
news  came  in  April,  that  Brian  the  baron  of  Dungannon,  depredat- 
ing upon  his  territory,  had  fallen  in  battle  with  Turlogh  who  ruled 
over  Tyrone  in  his  absence,  the  queen  concluding  that  nothing  was 
to  be  gained  by  his  longer  detention,  since  Turlogh  next  in  succession 
would  be  quite  as  hostile,  he  was  permitted  to  go.  Yet  before  his 
departure,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  May,  he  was  forced  to  sign  agree- 
ments extorted  by  duress,  but  which  left  him  substantially  supreme 
in  authority  over  Tyrone. 

He  had  improved  his  opportunity  not  only  to  make  many  friend- 
ships, maintained  long  afterwards  by  correspondence  and  gifts  of 
horse,  falcon  and  hound,  but  to  learn  with  Robert  Dudley  and  other 
gallants  of  the  court  to  hunt,  ride  and  dress  after  English  modes. 
His  two  thousand  pounds  promised  but  not  all  paid,  melted  rapidly 
away  in  such  companionship,  and  three  hundred  more  were  advanced 
to  defray  his  charges.  A  widower,  his  ambition  was  an  English  wife 
of  the  queen's  selection,  but  Frances  RatclifFe,  sister  of  Sussex,  af- 
terwards lady  Mildmay,  remained  his  choice.     He  had  had  little  time 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  357 

amidst  the  busy  scenes  and  incidents  of  war,  the  death  of  INIary 
O'Donnel,  and  preparation  for  his  visit  to  London,  to  pay  court  to 
his  earlier  admiration,  countess  of  Arg^yle  and  wife  of  Calvagh,  of 
whom  he  had  been  the  unsuccessful  suitor,  and  his  unfortunate  inti- 
macy with  her  was  doubtless  of  subsequent  date. 

When  he  returned  he  Avas  more  often  in  her  company,  and  Avhcn 
no  English  wife  offered,  and  rumors  reached  him  from  the  pale  that 
Frances  Ratcliffe  had  been  sent  over  to  Dublin,  to  entrap  him  into 
her  brother's  power,  who  wrote  him  that  if  they  liked  each  other  on 
farther  acquaintance  he  should  not  ojipose  their  marriage,  constant 
intercourse  between  him  and  the  countess  may  have  led  to  liking  not 
easily  withstood.  Calvagh  is  described  as  of  noble  presence,  saga- 
cious and  brave,  stern  to  foe,  but  kind  to  friend,  so  estimal)]e  that 
no  good  act  of  his  created  surprise,  but  either  then  or  on  previous 
occasions  growing  out  of  the  intimacy  of  family  relations  it  is  said 
the  countess  had  formed  an  attachment  for  Shane,  whose  prepossess- 
ing qualities  and  more  active  spirit  gave  him  an  advantage  over  her 
staider  luisband.  She  was  highly  accomplished,  spoke  Latin,  French 
and  Italian  with  fluency,  and  under  conditions  where  there  was  little 
female  society,  if  they  erred,  though  we  would  not  extenuate  their 
error,  some  allowance  must  be  made.  He  was  steadfast  to  her  and 
she  was  with  him  at  his  death,  and  their  son  Hugh  Gar-valocli  grew 
up  to  be  executed  in  early  manhood  by  Hugh,  then  earl  of  Tyrone, 
brother  of  Bryan,  slain  at  Carlingford. 

The  suggestion  of  a  recent  writer  that  Victoria  would  have  given 
her  daughter  with  more  readiness  to  the  king  of  Dahomey,  than  Sussex 
his  sister  to  the  Irish  chieftain,  is  a  gratuitous  insult  to  the  memory 
of  Shane.  In  blood  even  by  English  standards,  in  social  position, 
as  an  independent  prince,  as  general  and  statesman,  Sussex  had  no 
advantage  over  him,  and  certainly  not  in  character.  Ferdoragh  had 
perished  in  a  legitimate  stratagem  of  war,  Bryan  in  combat  of  his 
own  seeking  ;   Shane  had  never  attenqited  to  remove  his  enemies  by 


358  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

dagger  or  by  draught.  His  illicit  love,  the  one  stain  upon  his  name, 
was  of  later  date,  and  paralleled  in  those  days  in  the  instance  of  nearly 
every  king  in  Christendom.  To  the  countess  of  Argyle  he  remained 
for  a  long  time  constant,  and  through  her  conciliated  the  support  of 
her  countrymen.  If  less  temperate  than  became  the  ruler  of  men,  ca- 
rousing after  days  spent  in  the  open  air,  in  campaigning  or  sylvan 
pursuits,  was  the  vice  of  that  period,  and  not  unknown  even  centu- 
ries later  at  the  tables  of  the  great. 

Hugh  O'Donnel,  brother  of  Calvagh,  joined  Shane  immediately 
after  his  return  from  London,  and  in  July  they  invaded  Fermanagh 
of  which  Shane  claimed  the  sovereignty,  as  recognized  in  the  treaty 
with  the  queen.  Maguire  appealed  to  Sussex  and  went  himself  to 
the  pale  to  implore  assistance,  but  upon  his  return  in  November  they 
again  raided  his  territory,  "  leaving  neither  house  nor  corn  unwasted, 
church  nor  sentory  unrobbed."  He  had  stored  his  valuables  in  his 
islands,  which  boats  were  being  provided  to  spoil.  He  wrote  in 
English,  praying  Sussex  to  repl}''  in  that  language  and  not  in  Latin, 
as  that  could  be  read.  He  closes  by  saying  that  Shane  once  pos- 
sessed of  Fermanagh  could  not  be  driven  out  and  all  Ulster  would 
be  at  his  disposal.  Shane  was  also  by  his  subordinate  septs  worrying 
Dundalk.  Sussex  and  Kildare  wrote  him  a  joint  letter,  urging  a 
conference  at  that  place,  but  he  refused,  claiming  their  covenants 
made  with  him  had  been  broken,  and  he  should  persevere  till  he  had 
recovered  sovpreignty  over  all  Ulster,  the  birthright  of  the  O'Neils. 
The  Catholic  powers,  with  whom  Shane  was  in  correspondence,  were 
plotting  against  the  queen,  there  was  danger  of  war  with  France, 
Tumors  were  rife  of  a  general  rising,  and  he  felt  his  strength. 

The  ancient  Manus  O'Donnel  held  for  thirty  years  the  chieftainship 
of  the  north-west  corner  of  the  island.  When  his  death  is  noticed  by 
the  Four  Masters  under  date  of  1563,  he  is  described  as  "  lord  of  Tyr- 
connel,  Inishowen,  Kinnel-Moen,  Fermanagh  and  lower  Connaught ; 
as    a    man  who    never   suffered   the  chiefs  in  his  neighborhood   to 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  359 

encroach  upon  his  superabundant  possessions,  fierce,  obdurate,  wrath- 
ful and  combative  toward  his  enemies  and  opponents,  until  he  had 
made  them  obedient  to  his  jurisdiction  ;  as  mild,  friendly,  benign, 
amicable,  bountiful  and  hospitable  toward  the  lejti-ned,  the  desti- 
tute, poets,  ollavs  and  the  church ;  as  learned,  skilled  in  many 
arts,  gifted  with  a  profound  intellect  and  knowledge  of  every  science." 
This  was  written  in  Donegal,  but  he  seems  to  have  been  an  estimable 
character,  though  grown  testy  and  disqualified  by  age  and  infirmity 
for  ruling  over  his  turbulent  subjects.  When  deposed  by  the  clan, 
he  had  been  succeeded  by  Calvagh,  duly  chosen  in  his  place.  This 
was  not  without  opposition,  and  Calvagh,  to  reduce  the  refractory 
to  obedience,  had  brought  over  a  force  from  Scotland. 

The  new  year  found  Sussex  busily  employed  in  practising  upon 
Turlogh  O'Xeil,  O'Reilly,  and  Con  O'Donnel  to  desert  Shane, 
against  whom  in  April,  proclamation  was  made;  and  the  month 
after  the  army  proceeded  from  Armagh,  through  bogs  and  forests,  to 
Clogher,  taking  a  distant  view  of  the  Troughs.  EiMit  thousand 
kine  had  been  driven  to  places  of  security,  but  a  thousand  remained 
to  be  gleaned.  Neither  kine  nor  kern  sufficed  for  their  contemplated 
objects,  and  resorting  again  to  negotiation,  at  the  end  of  July,  Ormond 
and  Kildare  obtained  a  personal  interview  with  the  chieftain,  wdio  in 
September  explained  to  the  queen  why  the  articles  signed  by  him  in 
London  could  not  be  carried  out.  He  complained  of  various  wrongs 
and  depredations  committed  upon  his  territory,  that  his  letters  and 
presents  to  Dudley  had  not  been  forwarded  by  Sussex,  and  that 
treacherous  attempts  had  been  made  upon  his  life.  He  renewed  his 
suit  for  Frances  liatcliffe,  his  constancy  to  whom  would  seem  to  in- 
dicate attachment.  Whilst  these  negotiations  were  pending,  John 
Smyth,  a  creature  of  the  lord  lieutenant,  often  in  his  company,  sent 
Shane  a  present  of  poisoned  wine,  Avhich  very  nearly  effected  its  pur- 
pose. The  queen  on  the  fifteenth  of  October  expressed  her 
indignation  at   the  detestable  attempt,  but  her  correspondence  with 


360  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

Sussex  in  August,  urging  "  his  bearing  some  burden  rather  than 
force  her  to  pardon  Shane  without  submission  "  and  similar  phrases, 
suggest  the  impression  that  the  attempt  may  have  proceeded  from  a 
wish  to  please  her. 

Sussex  did  not  favor  the  negotiation,  but  Kildare  and  Cusack  the 
chancellor  persuading  Shane  to  moderate  his  pretensions,  after  long 
correspondence  and  discussion,  the  new  articles  of  pacification,  revok- 
ing all  others  before,  were  signed  by  the  chief  at  his  castle  of  Ben- 
borb  on  the  eighteenth  of  November.  He  was  to  retain  the  title  of 
O'Neil  and  all  that  it  implied,  with  supreme  rule  over  Tyrone  and  all 
subordinate  chieftains,  who  had  ever  acknowledged  allegiance  to  his 
predecessors,  till  parliament  should  determine  upon  his  claim  to  the 
earldom.  The  garrison  of  Armagh  was  to  be  withdrawn  at  All  Saints, 
and  disputes  were  to  be  adjusted  by  arbiters,  two  chosen  by  the  chief 
and  two  by  the  deputy.  Calvagh  was  to  be  released,  and  Loftus, 
archbishop  of  Armagh,  allowed  to  have  and  keep  possession  of  his 
church  and  lands.  This  treaty,  if  an  acknowledgment  of  English 
rule,  was  still  a  triumph  for  Shane.  It  conceded  nearly  all  he  de- 
manded as  his  right,  and  if  kept  inviolate  by  the  government  it  would 
perhaps  have  been  equally  respected  by  him. 

Calvagh,  after  nearly  three  years  captivity  was  set  free  upon  pay- 
ment of  a  large  ransom  by  the  Kinel  Connell.  In  the  autumn, 
the  deputy  with  a  numerous  army  escorted  him  through  Tyrone  to 
Louo'hFoyle,  and  entering  Tyrconnel  reinstated  him  in  his  lands  and 
castles.  Proceeding  thence  across  the  Erne  into  Carbury  to^take 
possession  of  Sligo,  Calvagh  caused  his  standard  to  be  displayed 
from  its  battlements,  and  upon  the  lord  justice  inquiring  whose  stand- 
ard it  was,  Calvagh  replied  it  was  his  own,  and  that  the  town  had 
belonged  to  his  ancestors  from  a  remote  period,  whereupon  the  keys 
were  delivered  to  him. 

In  1564  Calvagh.and  O'Boylerepaired  to  Dublin  and  were  received 
with  great  honor.   Upon  their  return,  O'Donnel  went  into  Fermanagh. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  361 

O'Boyle  had  not  been  long  at  home,  when  in  May  Con,  son  of 
Calvagh,  requested  him  to  go  to  Donegal,  then  possessed  by  Hugh, 
son  of  Hugh  Oge,  who  upon  their  coming  consented  that  Con 
Bhould  entei-  his  castle,  but  not  0'Bo>'lc.  Two  other  O'Donnels,  sons 
of  Hugh  Boy,  had  agreed  to  betray  the  castle  to  Con,  and  with  him 
proceeded  to  demolish  the  town  in  which  Hugh  then  was,  when  sud- 
denly Shane  and  Hugh,  brother  of  Calvagh,  called  to  the  rescue  with 
numerous  forces,  broke  in  upon  them  in  the  darkness  of  the  night  and 
routed  them,  taking  Con  prisoner.  His  father  greatly  distressed  at 
the  loss  of  his  son  sought  to  obtain  his  release.  Shane  insisted  upon  the 
surrender  of  his  castle  of  LifFord,  and  it  was  yielded  as  ransom  for  Con. 
Pride  his  besetting  sin,  Shane  grew  more  bold  and  exacting  with 
each  fresh  success,  and  vexed  at  the  dilatory  proceedings  of  parlia- 
ment as  regarded  the  earldom,  expressed  his  displeasure.  His 
demands  received  no  response  unless  in  the  form  of  menace.  This 
provoked  his  resentment.  His  troops  invading  Tyrconnel  carried  off 
ten  thousand  head  of  cattle,  whilst  he  attempted  to  surprise  Armagh, 
Loftusthe  archbishop  having  offended  him  by  misrepresentation.  In 
answer  to  the  lord  lieutenant  who  represented  Ulster  as  verging  on 
some  great  explosion,  the  queen  wrote,  that  "his  suspicions  of 
Shane  should  give  him  no  uneasiness,  that  he  shoidd  tell  his  troops 
to  take  courage,  and  that  his  rebellion  may  tm'n  to  their  advantage, 
as  there  will  be  lands  to  bestow  on  those  that  need  them."  Cusack 
ao-ain  contrived  to  bring;  Shane  to  reason.  He  had  disaiFected  his  kins- 
man  Tm'logh,  next  to  himself  in  power  in  Tyrone,  and  who  had  taken 
advantage  of  his  absence  at  court  to  gain  popularity  and  seek  the 
chieftainshiji,  but  his  hold  upon  the  sept  was  not  easily  weakened,  and 
the  government,  though  not  conceding  what  he  asked,  showed  no 
disposition  to  drive  him  to  extremities.  Sussex  himself  as  he  was 
leaving  Ireland  wrote  liim  in  terms  of  courtesy  and  kindness ;  and 
both  queen  and  chief  seemed  inclined  to  carry  out  in  good  faith  the, 

articles  of  Cusack  of  1563. 
46 


362  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Had  he  exhibited  like  sagacity  and  forbearance  in  his  conduct  to 
his  neifjhbors  as  to  the  statesmen  of  the  court,  his  reim  mio;ht  have 
been  greatly  prolonged  and  prospered.  But  such  was  not  his  temper. 
Not  far  from  Sligo  ruled  O'Rourkes,  from  one  of  whose  early  kings 
killed  in  1172,  had  been  carried  off  Devorguil  mother  of  Eva. 
Its  chief  Owen  with  Margaret  his  wife,  daughter  of  Conor-na-srona, 
king  of  Thomond,  founded  in  1508,  Can*igpatrick,  for  Franciscans, 
in  which  order  twenty  years  after  he  died.  His  son  Brian  Ballagh, 
whose  principal  fame  was  as  patron  of  poets,  and  of  their  works  he 
possessed  the  best  collection  of  his  day,  in  1540  constructed  the  castle 
of  Leitrim  and  subdued  Moylurg.  After  thirty-four  years  rarely 
disturbed  by  war  or  intestine  dissension,  his  son  Hugh  Gallda  suc- 
ceeded, and  then  in  1564  another  son  Brian.  O'Neil,  in  furtherance 
of  his  ambitious  projects,  set  up  Hugh  Boy,  whom  two  years  later 
the  Kin  el  Connel  slew  in  battle  or  by  means  less  lawful,  and  rein- 
stated Bryan,  nephew  of  Calvagh  and  who  resenting  the  interference 
with  his  rights  proved  a  dangerous  foe.  Sydney  said  of  Bryan,  he 
was  the  proudest  man  with  whom  he  had  to  deal  as  deputy.  His 
noble  deportment  and  manly  beauty  charmed  the  queen,  but  did  not 
prevent  her  putting  him  to  death  in  1591,  when  entrapped  in  Scot- 
land, for  extending  shelter  to  Spaniards  shipwrecked  in  the  Armada. 
At  this  particular  epoch  when  by  his  pride,  exactions  and  exorbitant 
pretensions  Shane  was  losing  popularity  with  the  other  chiefs  about 
his  borders,  he  had  better  have  left  Bryan  alone. 

But  he  was  never  at  rest.  When  Macdonnels  and  other  clans 
from  Scotland,  extending  their  possessions  in  Antrim,  rejected  his 
claims  to  supremacy,  and  his  overtures  to  alliance,  he  decided  to  bring 
them  to  terms.  His  treaty  in  London  with  the  queen  had  stipulated 
that  what  he  conquered  from  them  should  be  annexed  to  his  dominions. 
In  August  from  the  castle  of  Corcra  in  Tyrone,  he  communicated 
his  designs  to  the  deputy  and  councU,  who  expressed  their  appro- 
val.      A  few  weeks  later  he  constructed  a  castle  in  Colerane  on 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  363 

the  east  side  of  the  Bann,  taking  possession  of  a  monastery  across  the 
river.  It  sustained  an  attack  lasting  for  twenty-four  hours,  in  which 
Sorley  Boy  was  wounded.  Occasional  raids  SAvecping  over  their 
settlements  with  fire  and  sword,  gave  the  Scots  further  intimation  of 
what  was  impending,  and  which  they  did  not  disregard.  Three  hun- 
dred young  men  selected  from  the  best  families  of  the  clan,  carefully 
trained  in  martial  and  athletic  exercises,  constituting  the  Luchtach  or 
body  guard  of  MacDonnel  and  commanded  usually  by  his  heir  or 
tanist,  were  sent  over  to  Lecale.  After  solemn  celebration  of  Easter 
at  Fedan,  in  April  Shane  marched  by  Dromore,  and  cutting  a  pass 
through  the  forest  twelve  mdes  long,  for  ten  men  abreast,  to  near 
Edenduffcarrick,  the  forces  of  Clanaboy  and  his  best  troops  there  came 
to  join  him.  Repairing  an  old  fortress  at  that  place  he  continued  his 
march,  defeating  Sorley  Boy  who  disputed  a  pass,  and  burnt  James 
Mac  Donnel's  castle  at  Red  Bay. 

That  chief  had  been  making  preparation,  and  when  the  beacon 
fire  on  Torr  Hill  gave  the  signal,  he  crossed  the  channel,  reaching 
Cushindun  bay  as  the  melting  mists  ushered  in  the  May  day  morning 
of  1565.  His  burning  castle  and  Sorley  Boy  in  full  retreat  towards 
him  were  not  encouraging,  and  expecting  their  other  brother  Alexan- 
der Oge  with  reenforcements  from  the  isles,  they  withdrew  with  pre- 
cipitation to  Ballycastle  and  encamped  at  the  foot  of  Glentow  giving 
its  name  to  the  fight  which  ensued,  the  river  Tow  being  Anglicised 
Taisi.  Alexander  that  evening  left  Scotland  with  nine  hundred 
men  to  arrive  the  day  after  the  battle,  only  again  to  hurry  home. 

Shane  who  had  himself  passed  the  night  at  Bailecashlein  or 
New  Castle,  Sorley  Boy's  town,  at  five  in  the  morning  of  the  second, 
marshalled  his  aiTay,  and  exhorting  his  troops  to  be  of  good  courage, 
and  true  to  their  prince,  made  his  onset,  giving  the  MacDon- 
nels  a  complete  overthrow,  slaying  seven  hundred,  and  capturing 
James  desperately  wounded,  Sorley  Boy,  the  young  MacLeod  their 
brother-in-law,  and  nineteen  other  chiefs.     James  offered  Shane  all 


364  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

his  lands  and  chattels  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  for  his  ransom,  but 
O'Neil  answered  that  as  he  was  acting  for  the  queen  it  was  for  her 
to  determine ;  and  when  Mary  of  Scots,  the  earl  of  Argyle  and  the 
island  lords  earnestly  besought  him  to  release  the  two  brothers,  he 
made  the  same  reply. 

Without  delay  he  reduced  Dunsverick  and  besieged  Dunluce,  be- 
longing to  Sorley.  The  latter  held  out  three  days,  but  the  garrison, 
informed  that  their  chief  was  to  have  neither  meat  nor  drink  till  the 
place  capitulated,  surrendered.  Having  thus  killed  or  banished  the 
Scots,  he  returned  to  Glenulla  in  Clanaboy,  whence  he  sent  James  to 
his  castle  of  Corcrato  die  of  his  wounds  in  a  dungeon.  James  is  de- 
scribed as  "  a  paragon  of  hospitality  and  prowess,  wise,  bountiful  and 
munificent,  without  peer  in  the  Clandonnel,  who  would  have  paid  his 
weight  in  gold  for  his  ransom."  Shane  is  said  to  have  given  him 
honorable  interment  in  Armagh.  The  night  of  the  battle  of  Glentow 
he  wrote  the  lord  justice  Arnold  and  the  council  an  account  in  Latin  of 
his  victory,  and  a  month  later  his  secretary  Fleming  wrote  Cusack 
further  details  of  the  campaign.  The  acknowledgments  of  the 
council  were  presented  to  Shane  for  his  success.  It  was  hailed  in 
England  as  a  victory  also  for  the  queen,  who  still  with  the  usual 
crookedness  that  marked  her  policy  took  him  to  task. 

Alarmed  at  the  growing  strength  of  O'Neil  and  fretted  that  he 
refused  to  surrender  his  prisoners,  the  queen  sent  over  Sydney  as 
deputy  who  wrote  to  request  an  interview  at  Dundalk.  In  his  reply 
the  chief,  who  by  the  articles  of  1563  was  absolved  from  any  obliga- 
tion to  wait  upon  the  viceroy,  declined,  stating  as  reasons  why  his 
people  would  not  suffer  him  to  come  :  that  his  father  refusing  to  deliver 
up  Turlogh  who  had  spoiled  Tyrone,  and  visiting  Dundalk,  the  depu- 
ty threatened  to  cut  off  his  head,  and  after  good  service  against 
the  Scots  entertaining  the  deputy  at  Armagh,  he  was  carried  off  to 
Dublin,  the  repast  untasted  :  that  he  had  himself  by  agreement  with 
St.  Leger  rendered  aid  for  which  he  was  to  have  three  thousand 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  365 

pounds  ;  this  Sussex  refused  to  pay  :  that  he  had  agreed  to  go  into 
England,  if  the  garrison  was  removed  from  Armagh,  which  it  was  not, 
and  he  was  taken  there  as  a  prisoner  handlocked.  He  had  been  un- 
lawfully detained  and  constrained  to  give  nineteen  of  his  best  pledges 
before  he  was  released,  and  upon  his  return  his  life  had  been  attempt- 
ed by  dagger  and  poison,  and  though  he  was  assured  of  the  friendship 
of  the  deputy  his  people  were  timid. 

In  March  Sydney  wrote  Leicester  that  Shane  was  the  only  strong 
and  rich  man  in  Ireland,  that  he  had  sent  Stukeley  and  Dowdal  to 
bring  about  an  interview  with  him  to  no  purpose.  He  received  them 
kindly  ;  but  when  the  wine  was  in  him  he  spoke  his  mind  freely,  "that 
he  cared  not  to  be  made  an  earl  unless  he  might  be  better  and  higher 
than  an  earl,  for  that  he  was  in  blood  and  power  better  than  the  best 
of  them,  unless  it  were  his  cousin  Kildare  who  was  of  his  house. 
They  had  made  a  Avise  man  of  MacCarthy  Mor,  but  he  kept  as  good 
a  man  as  he.  The  queen  was  his  sovereign,  but  he  never  made  peace 
with  her  but  at  her  seeking.  When  he  came  to  Sussex  he  offered 
him  the  courtesy  of  a  handlock.  The  queen  said  it  Avas  true  he  had 
a  safe  conduct  to  come  and  go,  but  it  did  not  say  when  he  might  go, 
and  he  was  kept  till  he  had  agreed  to  things  against  his  honor  and 
profit  that  he  would  never  perform.  That  made  him  make  war  and 
he  should  do  it  again.  He  could  bring  to  the  field  one  thousand 
horse  and  four  thousand  foot,  and  march  to  the  walls  of  Dublin  and 
back  unfought.  His  ancestors  were  kings  of  Ulster,  and  that 
Ulster  was  his  and  should  be  ;  that  O'Donnell  should  never  come  into 
his  country,  nor  Bagnall  into  Newry,  nor  Kildare  into  Dundrum  or 
Lecale.  They  were  now  his.  With  his  sword  he  had  won  them 
and  with  his  sword  he  would  keep  them." 

It  would  not  be  just  to  infer  from  the  allusion  to  the  habits  of  the 
chieftain  that  he  was  intemperate  beyond  what  was  the  custom  of 
the  times.  His  repasts,  as  his  progenitors'  and  those  of  all  other 
ruling  princes  of  the  island  as  of  other  lands  at  that  period,  Avere 


366  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

taken  at  the  head  of  his  long  and  hospitable  board,  where  his  kins- 
folk and  chiefs,  his  hostages  and  retainers  bore  him  company,  and 
where  they  all  shared  in  the  festal  entertainment  of  harpist  or  trou- 
badour, whose  hereditary  function  it  was  to  render  agreeable  the 
hours  passed  in  the  banquet  hall.  It  is  impossible  that  one  as  am- 
bitious as  Shane  O'Neil,  and  of  his  strength  of  character,  and 
dependent  upon  the  esteem  of  his  clansmen  for  retaining  his  position, 
if  occasionally  warmed  as  in  the  above  instance  by  the  wine  which  he 
shared  with  his  guests,  ever  degenerated  into  a  sot.  When  op- 
probriously  charged  by  Stanihurst  with  excess  in  wine  of  which  his 
cellars  at  Dundrum  held  two  hundred  tuns,  this  and  his  cooling  off 
its  effects  in  an  earth  bath  are  generally  considered  inventions. 

Campion,  who  wrote  in  1570,  tells  us  "that  Shane  ordered  the 
north  so  properly  that  if  any  subject  could  prove  loss  of  money 
or  goods  within  his  precinct  he  would  force  the  robber  to  restitution, 
or  at  his  owti  cost  redeem  the  harm  to  the  loser's  content.  Sitting 
at  meat,  before  he  put  one  morsel  into  his  own  mouth  he  used  to  slice 
a  portion  and  send  it  to  some  beggar  at  his  gate,  saying  it  was  fit 
to  serve  Christ  first."  A  work  by  Matthew  O'Connor  says  of  him  : 
"  that  by  the  natural  vigor  of  his  mind  he  raised  armies,  erected  forts, 
besieged  fortified  towns,  defeated  regular  troops  led  on  by  ex- 
perienced generals,  and  made  a  resolute  stand  against  the  first  nation 
of  the  world  in  riches,  in  arts  and  in  arms.  He  was  often  victorious 
and  never  vanquished."  His  letters,  many  of  which  remain,  to  Eng- 
lish nobles  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  on  his  visit  to  the  queen, 
exhibit  much  culture  and  appreciation  of  what  was  of  good  report 
and  meritorious  in  English  institutions.  His  many  defects  of 
character  and  errors  in  conduct  were  exaggeratedby  English  writers. 
It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  his  ulterior  motive  throughout  appears 
to  have  been  the  independence  of  Ulster,  possibly  of  Ireland,  and  that 
his  eagerness  to  reduce  to  his  sway  the  neighboring  septs  was  mainly 
to  further  this  end. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  367 

In  1566  he  had  gained  possession  of  all  Ulster,  Maguire  and 
Calvaoh  O'Donnell  takins:  refuQ-e  in  Dublin.  He  invaded  Con- 
naught,  wasting  and  destroying,  received  tribute  or  hostages  from 
its  principal  chiefs  as  recognition  of  his  sovereignty,  devastating 
Clanrickard  and  carrying  four  thousand  cattle  back  to  Tyrone.  He 
put  away  the  wife  of  Calvagh  and  sought  to  marry  the  widow 
of  James  Macdonnel.  Incensed  at  the  duplicity  of  the  queen  who 
sent  him  the  ratification  of  the  Cusack  articles  whilst  plotting  his 
overthrow,  he  fortified  LiflTord  in  the  north  and  Dundrum  in  Lecale 
threatening  Dundalk.  He  wrote  in  April  to  Charles  the  IX.  and 
Lorraine  proflfering  allegiance  if  five  thousand  men  were  sent  to  his 
aid.  In  an  engagement  Avith  Caffiir  brotlier  of  Calvagh  he  slew  him 
and  one  hundred  and  forty  of  his  men,  and  treating  with  Hugh 
O'Donnel,  then  with  him,  for  several  castles  in  Tyrconncl,  he  obtained 
possession  of  them.  In  July  he  entered  the  pale  with  fire  and  sword 
and  on  the  twenty-ninth  besieged  Dundalk,  but  was  repulsed  by  Fitz- 
william.  He  broke  down  the  cathedral  at  Armagh,  occupied  Fer- 
managh. He  wrote  Desmond  that  he  had  burnt  Meath,  and  then  or 
never  was  the  time  to  strike.  Alexander  Oge  with  twelve  hundred 
men  from  Cantyre  sided  with  the  queen  and  wrote  from  the  Glynns 
that  he  was  ready  to  enter  Tyrone. 

Col.  Randolph  an  able  oflScer  with  a  thousand  men  held  Derry,  and 
though  the  army  of  Tyr  Owen  quadrupled  his  force  in  numbers, 
they  were  powerless  against  its  walls.  In  a  sally  towards  Knocfer- 
gus  in  November  Randolph,  well  supplied  with  artillery,  in  which 
arm  O'Xeil  was  deficient,  gave  Shane  a  check,  but  fell  himself 
in  the  combat  near  Derry,  which  place,  in  April  demolished  by 
an  accidental  explosion  of  its  magazines,  was  abandoned,  and  its  gar- 
rison in  their  march  to  the  pale  much  harassed.  Shane,  after  de- 
feating the  English  at  the  battle  of  the  Sagums,  killing  four  hundred, 
again  invaded  Tyrconnel,  Connaught,  Fermanagh  and  the  lands  of 
Bagenal  in  Xewry  and  Brefney,     Sydney,  deputy  since  the  recall  of 


368  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Arnold  in  1565,  inarched  against  him,  but  discouraged  by  the  seven 
thousand  men,  fifteen  hundred  of  them  Scots,  whom  Shane  had  under 
his  command,  or  as  also  said  his  supplies  exhausted,  withdrew ;  ,but 
early  in  the  spring  before  he  could  well  be  expected,  passed  round 
Tyrone  into  Connaught,  establishing  Hugh  in  Tyrconnel,  restoring 
Brefney  to  Brian  O'Rourke,  in  place  of  the  chief  friendly  to  O'Neil, 
and  Fermanagh,  its  chief  dying  on  the  way,  to  his  kinsman  equally 
loyal  to  the  English.      Cavan  was  raided,  and  Benborb  burnt. 

Calvagh,  son  of  Manus,*  in  the  beginning  of  the  winter,  on  the 
twenty-sixth  of  October,  shortly  after  his  return  from  England  had 
fallen  dead  from  his  saddle  in  the  midst  of  his  cavalry,  "without  the 
slightest  starting,  stumbling,  shying  or  prancing  of  his  horse."  No^ 
his  son  Con,  but  his  brother  "Hugh  was  chosen  chief.  This  event 
not  known  in  Dublin  for  some  weeks  changed  greatly  the  posture  of 
affairs.  It  added  little  to  the  strength  of  O'Neil  who  still  persevered 
in  his  hostile  operations.  His  renewed  appeals  to  the  cardinals  pro- 
duced no  effect ;  his  present  of  the  costly  suit,  given  by  Henry  VHI. 
to  his  father  Con  when  created  earl,  to  the  religious  and  puritan 
Argyle,  did  not  help  his  cause ;  and  the  desertion  of  the  timid  and 
time  serving,  even  among  his  most  trusted  followers,  Hugh 
O'Neil  Mor  of  the  Fews,  Maguire,  McGrath  and  McArdle,  presi- 
dent of  his  council,  foreboded  his  approaching  downfall.  Had  Hugh 
O'Donnel  stood  fast  to  their  earlier  friendship,  they  could  have  to- 
gether set  at  naught  any  army  Elizabeth  had  to  oppose  to  them,  but 
with  their  conflicting  claims  to  rule  no  sooner  did  Hugh  become 
chief  of  Tyrconnel  than  forgetful  of  all  obligations  to  Shane  he  made 
his  inaugural  hosting  into  his  territory.  Con,  son  of  Calvagh,  who 
had  been  described  in  his  youth  by  Sussex  as  "  wise,  valiant  and  civil, 
the  likehest  plant  that  ever  sprang  in  Ulster  whereon  to  graft  a  good 
subject,"  and  whose  character  is  rated  high  by  the  annalists  under 
1583  when  he  died,  was  set  at  liberty  and  put  by  Shane  in  .possession 

*  Son  of  Hugh  Duv,  son  of  Hugh  Roe,  son  of  Nial  Garv,  son  of  Turlogh. 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  369 

of  Ballyshannon   and   Balleek,  and  this  still  further  widened  the 
breach. 

Before  the  winter  was  over,  Hugh  made  a  second  expedition-' 
into  Tyrone,  wasting  and  destroying,  driving  off  cattle  and 
ravaging  Strabanc.  Shane  gathered  his  clans  to  retaliate.  Hugh, 
early  in  May,  near  the  fords  of  the  Swilly  in  Kilmacrenan  with  a  small 
army,  seasonably  recnforced  from  the  neighborhood,  observing  the 
Kinel  Owenin  hosts  and  squadrons  crossing  the  ford,  the  tide  out,  sent 
his  son  Hugh  with  horse  to  engage  their  van,  while  he  posted  his  in- 
fantry in  a  secure  position  whei*e  they  could  not  be  surrounded.  Many 
fell  in  the  cavalry  encounter,  and  among  them  Magroarty  who  had 
charge  of  the  sacred  Cathach  of  Columkille.  The  troop  withdrew 
discomfited,  but  MacSweenys,  Tuath,  Fanad  and  Banagh  came 
to  their  relief.  O'Donnel  addressed  them  complaining  of  the  wrongs 
they  had  sustained  from  the  Kinel  Owen,  and  dwelling  especially  on 
the  loss  of  his  fortress  of  LifFord  given  in  ransom  for  Con. 

Shane  was  promising  himself  submission  or  an  easy  victory,  when 
the  Kinel  Connel  came  up.  His  men  seized  their  arms  and  moved 
rapidly  and  in  order  to  the  combat.  "  Fierce  and  desperate  were  the 
grim  and  terrible  looks  that  each  cast  at  the  other  from  their  starlike 
eyes.  They  raised  the  battle  cry  aloud  and  their  united  shouting 
when  rushing  together  was  sufficient  to  strike  with  dismay  and  turn 
to  flight  the  feeble  andunwarlike.  They  continued  to  strike,  mangle 
and  cut  down  one  another  for  a  long  time,  so  that  many  men  were 
laid  low,  heroes  wounded,  youths  slain,  and  robust  warriors  mangled 
in  slaughter."  At  last  the  Kinel  Owen  defeated  abandoned  the 
field,  and  the  tide  having  risen  over  the  beach,  crossed  in  the  advance 
and  by  which  lay  their  retreat,  they  plunged  into  the  swollen  sea. 
Countless  numbers  were  drowned  or  slain  by  their  pursuers,  many  of 
the  Clan  Donnell,  O'Coinnes  and  O'Hagans,  and  Dudley  O'Donnelly, 
Shane's  faithful  foster  brother  was  killed.  The  loss  of  life  is  variously 
estimated  from  thirteen  hundred  to  three  thousand. 
47 


370 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


Thus  were  avenged  the  wrongs  of  Calvagh  and  Mary  O'Donnel. 
The  chief,  broken  hearted,  escaped  up  the  Swilly  under  guidance  of 
"the  O'Gallaghers,  possibly  hostile  to  Hugh,  and  travelled  on  by 
retired  and  solitary  ways,  regaining  his  own  domains  to  find  Sydney 
approaching  against  him  in  force.  Bewildered  and  losing  his  wonted 
prudence,  he  sent  messengers  to  Scotland  to  invite  Alexander,  brother 
of  James  mortally  wounded  at  Glentow,  to  his  assistance.  Come  he 
did  without  delay  to  Cushindun,  and  there  pitched  his  camp.  Taking 
Sorley  boy,  no  longer  prisoner,  Shane  repaired  thither,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  apparent  kindness.  But  at  the  banquet,  Aspuck  son  of 
Agnes,  sister  of  the  Mac  Donnels  and  whose  father  had  also  fallen  at 
Glentow,  for  the  express  purpose,  it  is  presumed,  of  provoking  a 
quarrel,  entered  into  an  angry  altercation  with  the  secretary  of  Shane, 
asking  liim  if  he  had  said  that  his  aunt  the  lady  Cantyre  would  con- 
sent to  marry  him  who  had  killed  her  husband.  The  secretary 
responded  that  Shane  was  fit  match  for  Mary  Stuart  herself.  On  this 
Shane  interposing,  Aspuch  withdrew,  and  stirring  up  his  men  who 
may  possibly  have  been  prepared  for  the  conjuncture,  and  only 
waiting  for  the  preconcerted  signal,  they  rushed  into  the  tent,  and 
though  his  few  followers  and  one  of  the  O'Donnellys  fought  bravely 
to  defend  him,  Shane  was  quickly  despatched.  Wrapped  in  a  kerns 
shirt,  he  was  interred  near  by  in  a  ruinous  church. 

Sydney,  as  also  Piers  governor  of  Carrickfergus  who  rivalled  ma- 
jesty itself  in  taste  and  talent  for  indirection  and  who  received  ample 
equivalents  for  the  head  of  Shane  sent  to  decorate  the  battlements  of 
Dublin  castle,  claimed  what  credit  there  was  for  his  betrayal  and 
death.  His  active  nature  that  knew  no  weariness,  great  practical 
sagacity,  insatiable  ambition  and  indomitable  pride,  with  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  fortune,  extreme  and  varied,  that  attended  his  career,  invest 
Shane  with  peculiar  interest.  Had  he  been  less  selfish  and  by  justice 
and  forbearance  towards  his  brother  princes  won  their  regard,  had  his 
aim  been  his  country's  independence  from  a  foreign  yoke,  or  even  the 


TRANSFER     OF     ERaN.  371 

preservation  of  its  ancient  faith,  his  fame  would  have  stood  out  in 
bold  relief  as  a  national  hero.  Or  could  he  have  escaped  the  too 
easy  fascinations  of  Calvagh's  wife,  or  when  free  made  her  his  own, 
there  would  have  been  less  to  censure.  But  instead  of  reparation, 
when  in  his  power,  he  provoked  the  resentment  of  her  kindred  by- 
overtures  for  the  hand  of  her  step-daughter,  widow  of  that  James 
Macdonnel  who  fell  on  the  field  of  his  triumph  to  miserably  perish 
in  his  dungeon  at  Corcra.  The  Nemesis  that  haunted  his  paths  sped 
swiftly  to  his  undoing,  and  his  strongly  marked  character  and  tragic 
end  afford  rich  material  for  dramatic  treatment. 

His  sons  by  jNIary  O'Donnel,  Henry  and  Art,  were  children, 
and  Turlogh  Lineach,  great-grandson  of  Con  Mor,  invested  at 
Tullaghoge,  succeeded  with  the  acquiescence  of  the  English  govern- 
ment to  the  chieftainship.  Objection  was  made  to  his  claim  of 
sovereignty  over  the  border  princes  outside  of  Tyrone*  ;  and  this  pre- 
tention he  renounced ;  he  likewise  stipulated  to  leave  Hugh,  son  of 
Ferdoragh  baron  of  Duugannon  in  quiet  possession  of  his  private  es- 
tates. The  lull  in  the  affairs  of  Ulster  that  ensued,  Sorley  before  the 
new  year  returned  in  force  from  the  isles  to  disturb,  and  Turlogh  in- 
censed that  Hugh  should  be  supported  by  the  English  as  chief  of 
Tyrone,  threw  off  his  allegiance,  proclaiming  himself  hereditary  prince 
of  Ulster,  and  entered  into  alliance  with  Sorley,  whose  army  in  Antrim, 
now  augmented  to  four  thousand  men,  set  at  defiance  all  opposition. 

Turlogh,  though  no  longer  young,  sought  in  marriage  not 
unsuccessfully  the  widow  of  James  MacDonnel.  Their  nuptials 
did  not  take  place  before  the  summer  of  1569,  when  at  Kaghlin  off 
the  northeastern  coast  of  Ulster,  not  far  from  the  Giants'  Causeway, 
the  festal  occasion  was  attended  by  a  large  concourse.  To 
strengthen  still  further  this  powerful  combination,  Ineen  DufF, 
daughter  of  this  lady  of  Can  tyre  and  Tyrone,  became  the  wife  of 
Hugh,  chief  of  Tyrconnel.     Though  Turlogh  made  his  usual  abode 

,  *  McMahons,  Magennis,  Maguire,  O'Hanlon,  and  Hugh  McNeil  Mor  of  the  Fews. 


372  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

later  at  Strabane,  liis  hereditary  castles  of  Toome  and  Castleroe 
lay  further  north,  as  also  Dunnalong,  his  principal  residence  on 
Lough  Foyle,  which  stood  six  miles  above  Derry,  and  about  that 
distance  from  LifFord  the  favorite  abode  of  O'Donnel. 

Sydney  without  defeating  O'Neil  had  contrived  to  weaken  his  power 
by  management  and  disafFecting  his  neighbors,  and  certainly  proved 
a  most  efficient  ruler.  He  was  very  popular  among  his  own  nation- 
ality in  Ireland,  and  by  the  strict  military  discipline  he  maintained, 
administration  of  the  finances  and  politic  courses,  paved  the  way  for 
subjugation.  His  strong  sense,  energy  of  character,  cheerful  and 
kindly  disposition,  thorough  knowledge  of  the  queen  and  equanimity 
under  her  chidings  to  which  he  had  always  a  ready  but  respectful  re- 
sponse, fixed  hini  firmly  in  her  favor ;  and  the  friendship  of  Cecil, 
whose  daughter  was  for  a  while  the  destined  wife  of  his  son  Philip, 
stood  him  in  stead  whenever  his  brothers-in-law  Sussex  or  Leicester 
took  ofience  or  grew  jealous.  His  denunciation  of  the  "  cowardly 
policy"  of  breeding  dissension  between  septs  and  chiefs  to  weaken 
their  power,  exemplifies  the  honesty  of  purpose  which  generally  con- 
stituted his  sterling  trait.  When  exposure  in  the  field  had  under- 
mined his  constitution,  and  with  the  death  of  Shane  his  main  object 
was  accomplished,  he  requested  the  grant  of  Athlone  and  the  abbey 
lands  of  Connaught  for  his  guerdon,  and  repaired  by  permission  to 
court  to  further  his  quest  by  his  presence.  He  went  over  in  October, 
1567,  Weston  the  chancellor  and  Fitzwilliam,  vice  treasurer  and 
also  his  brother-in-law,  administering  affairs  for  the  twelve  months 
that  he  was  absent. 

The  result  of  his  ^deliberations  with  the  queen  and  Cecil  upon  Irish 
affairs  appears  in  the  correspondence  with  the  lords  justices,  and 
assumed  more  definite  shape  in  his  instructions  for  his  future  govern- 
ment when  he  went  back.  Substitution  of  English  law  for  brehon, 
establishment  of  the  reformed  religion,  a  general  system  of  grammar 
scliools  as  recommended  six  years  before  by  James  Crofts,  appropri- 


TKANSFER     OF     ERIN.  873 

ation  of  sept  lands  and  their  distribution  amongst  English  settlers 
and  soldiers,  presidencies  in  Munster  and  Connaught  formed  part  of 
their  proposed  policy.  Legislation  was  needed  and  no  time  lost  in 
carrying  out  these  measures  by  the  requisite  enactments. 

Sydney's  parliament,  convened  January,  1569,  was  a  sham.  The 
Irish  were  not  represented,  nor  do  we  find  mention  made  of  it  in  their 
annals.  Where  there  was  any  show  of  election,  government  by 
intrigue  and  corruption  secured  the  return  of  its  creatures.  ISIayors 
returned  themselves  ;  nominees  of  no  character,  education  or  estate, 
sate  for  places  they  had  never  seen.  Stanihurst  presided,  and 
Hooker,  who  continued  Hollinshed  and  had  represented  Exeter  in  the 
Eno;lish  commons,  havins:  come  over  with  Carew  was  member  for 
Athenry.  From  his  account  the  parliament  was  neither  legally 
called  nor  decently  conducted.  It  was  simply  a  bear  garden,  noisy 
and  disorderly.  He  framed  rules  for  its  proceedings,  and  after  op- 
position of  no  avail  against  the  majority,  Shane  O'Neil  was  attainted, 
the  queen  claiming  an  older  title  to'  Ireland  than  Heremon  or 
Heber's.  Half  Ulster,  Tyrone,  Clannaboy  and  the  Fews,  Coleraine 
of  the  Kanes,  Routa  of  the  McQuillans,  Glins  of  the  McDonnels, 
Iveach  of  the  Maguinnis,  Orior  of  the  Hanlons,  Farney,  Uriel, 
Lochta  and  Dartry  of  the  four  branches  of  the  McMahons,  Tur- 
rough  of  the  McKennys,  Clanbressail  of  the  McCanns  were  declared 
forfeited.  Portions  were  subsequently  restored,  but  the  whole 
proceeding  was  a  mockery  on  legislation.  Captainries  were  abolished 
unless  granted  by  patent,  imposts  laid  upon  wines,  free  schools 
established,  the  deputy  empowered  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  church  in 
Connaught  and  Munster ;  fosterage  with  Irish,  and  keeping  idle  re- 
tainers were  prohibited.  «, 

The  Ulster  triumvirate  of  Sorley,  Turlogh  and  Hugh  might  well 
view  with  composure  this  ostentation  of  power.  Hardly  a  rood  of  the 
land  thus  confiscated  passed  from  its  lawful  owners.  All  attem[>ts  to 
colonize  ended  in  disaster,  and  only  in  the  next  reign  were  attended 


374  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

with  other  result.  The  act  attainting  Shane  set  forth  what  he  had 
done  or  left  undone,  much  that  was  untrue  ;  but  except  in  retaliatory 
raids  on  the  pale  or  Dundalk,  and  burning  the  Armagh  cathedral 
when  Loftus  traduced  him,  there  had  been  no  violation  on  his  part  of 
the  articles  unless  in  self-defence.  What  appears  to  have  been 
uppermost  in  the  minds  of  its  framers  as  unpardonable  were  the 
three  occasions,  on  which  deputy  and  council  for  several  days  together 
assembled  in  solemn  conclave  to  receive  Shane  summoned  to  their 
presence,  when  by  the  articles  he  was  under  no  obligation  whatever 
to  obey  their  bidding  and  staid  away.  He  had  conquered  the  Scots 
as  the  queen  requested.  The  moment  after  he  became  crippled 
by  his  defeat  in  Tyrconnel,  Sydney  in  force  crossed  his  border 
and  English  emissaries  compassed  his  death.  It  was  now  proposed  to 
appropriate  Ulster  as  already  Leix  and  Offaly. 

But  if  baffled  in  reaping  the  fruits  of  her  rapacity,  the  queen  was 
greatly  relieved  that  tliis  vexatious  war  was  at  an  end.  Her  first  six- 
teen years  of  Irish  administration  cost  half  a  million  of  pounds 
sterling,  three-fourths  out  of  the  English  treasury.  More  than  a 
fourth  had  been  wasted  in  violating  her  treaty  with  Shane  in  fruitless 
hostings  and  official  embezzlements,  and  thirty-five  hundred  men  had 
perished  by  battle  or  disease,  without  laurel  or  loot,  unless  it  were 
cattle  found  unguarded  on  the  hill-side  and  driven  within  the  pale. 

Parliament  had  confiscated  Ulster.  Taking  possession  was  ano- 
ther matter.  To  Sir  Thomas  Smith  had  been  granted  Ards  in 
Down,  and  his  son  to  civilize  the  natives  led 'there  a  colony,  but 
O'Neil  of  Clannaboy  slew  him,  leaving  him  little  time  to  carry  out 
his  benevolent  purposes.  Essex  with  the  queen  had  planned  to 
send  out  two  thousand  settlers,  and  the  earl  raising  ten  thousand  pounds 
on  his  English  estates,  proceeded  to  possess  himself  of  Glyns,  Routa 
and  Clannaboy,  partly  occupied  by  the  Scots.  With  a  brave  fol- 
lowing of  lords  and  knights,  full  purse  and  numerous  and  well 
appointed  force,  Essex  started  on  his  ill-starred  quest.     To  better 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  375 

learn  liis  purpose  or  perhaps  not  suspecting  his  design,  Brian,  lord 
of  Clanaboy,  received  him  kindly,  but  soon  no  longer  in  doubt,  pre- 
pared for  resistance  by  gathering  his  clans  and  calling  in  his  allies. 
From  Con  O'Donnel  son  of  Calvagh  who  came  to  greet  him,  Essex 
wrested  LifFord,  his  principal  castle,  taking  him  prisoner  without  the 
slightest  pretext  or  provocation. 

Courtiers  soon  wearied  of  the  hardships  of  campaigning  and  went 
home.  For  the  next  two  years  w'ar  waged  with  alternate  fortune, 
now  Mcdonnels  and  O'Neils  for  many  hours  together  subjecting 
Essex  to  repulse  and  mortification,  then  driven  themselves  across  the 
Ban  with  considerable  slaughter.  The  earl  had  begun  hostilities, 
whilst  guest  of  Bryan,  by  seizing  his  flocks  and  herds.  These  dis- 
appeared from  his  bawns  in  the  darkness  of  the  night.  When  later 
superiority  of  weapons  turned  the  scale,  his  troops  scoured  Clanaboy 
destroying  its  harvests,  wasting  in  a  single  day  six  thousand  pounds 
in  value  of  its  grain.  The  country  till  then  abounding  in  every 
growth  was  changed  to  a  desolate  wilderness.  The  earl  proposed  that 
the  chief  should  become  his  farmer.  Grim  humor  mingled  in  the  oiFer, 
and  also  in  Bryan's  reply,  that  man  and  beast  swept  off,  it  would  not 
pay  for  cultivation.  Every  proposition  of  the  chief  to  compromise, 
was  met  by  treachery,  and  whilst  receiving  the  hospitalities  of  Brian 
who  represented  the  eldest  branch  of  the  Hy  Xials,  Essex  seized  him, 
his  wife  and  brother,  and  they  were  hung  and  quartered  at  Dublin. 
Sorley  Boy  he  enticed  into  submission,  and  at  the  same  time  sent 
Norris  to  Raghlin  with  six  hundred  men  and  guns. 

There  Sorley  Boy  six  years  before  had  built  from  the  woods  of 
Antrim  pleasant  halls  for  Turlogh's  wedding,  and  there  had  gathered 
Ulster  and  Cantyre  in  high  festival,  for  an  occasion  auspicious  of 
future  safety.  The  castle,  though  strong  and  garrisoned  with  two 
hundred  men,  yielded  to  artillery,  and  the  constable  stipulating  for 
his  own  safety,  his  Avife's  and  child's,  made  it  is  alleged  no  terms  for 
his  men.     They  were  massacred  by  the  English  soldiers,  and  three 


376  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

hundred  other  inhabitants  of  the  island,  old  and  young,  found  in 
caves  and  coverts,  shared  their  fate.  Perhaps  Essex  if  present 
might  have  spared  even  the  garrison,  but  his  wilhngness  to  appropri- 
ate the  property  of  others,  his  bad  faith  to  Bryan  and  Sorley  inspire 
a  doubt,  and  he  mentions  with  like  complacency  the  wholesale  slaugh- 
ter of  Raghlin  and  that  of  the  two  hundred  shot  down  unarmed  when 
he  sent  Bryan  and  his  wife  to  death  in  Dublin.  His  settlement 
did  not  prosper.  He  hastened  home  to  solicit  aid  from  the  queen. 
She  refused  it,  though  she  appointed  him  lord  marshal.  He  came 
back  again  in  a  few  months  to  be  poisoned  soon  after  his  return  in  Sep- 
tember, at  Dublin,  it  is  surmised  by  Leicester  who  repudiated  his  OAvn 
wife,  daughter  of  Howard,  earl  of  Effingham,  to  marry  his  widow. 
Smith  wasted  some  thought  and  money  on  Ards,  but  to  little  use, 
for  King  James  taking  it  away  from  his  heirs  gave  it  to  one  of  his 
Scotch  favorites.  Some  remains  of  that  of  Essex  in  Cavan  are  still 
held  by  his  descendants  of  another  name. 


XXXIV. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
Thus  far  to  avoid  confusion  Ulster  has  been  dealt  with  apart. 
But  all  over  the  island  the  times  were  stirring  and  strong  passions 
working  themselves  out  in  events  of  historical  importance.  Within 
the  pale,  as  the  field  offered  richer  harvests,  intrigue  grew  rank, 
and  corruption  became  so  open  and  intolerable  as  to  call  down 
printed  denunciations  from  students  at  colleges  and  inns  of  court, 
and  from  anonymous  sources,  sometimes  supposed  to  be  Parker  mas- 
ter of  the  rolls,  sometimes  Kildare,  but  probably  Bermingham. 

Gerald,  received  upon  his  return  in  1554  with  enthusiastic  demon- 
trations  of  attachment  by  the  people  generally,  retained  hold  of 
the  'devoted  loyalty  of  his  Irish  kinsfolk  as  well  as  of  the  many  pow- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  377 

erful  friends  and  adherents  of  the  Leinster  Geraldlnes.     "Whether 
he  cherished  or  not  any  such  aspu'ations  himself,  they  regarded  him 
as  destined  at  no  distant  day  to  occupy  the  position  of  his  father, 
grandsire  and  more  remote  progenitors,  as  viceroy.     He  had  smoothed 
the  way  for  his  preferment  by  acknowledging  the  royal  supremacy  in 
matters  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  temporal,  and  by  embracing  outwardly 
if  not  from  conviction  the  new  rites  and  tenets.     His  affection  for  his 
cousin  Shane,  for  O'Connors  and  O'Carrols  and  all  indeed  allied  to  him 
by  ties  of  consanguinity,  was  rarely  disguised,  and  warmed  into  renew- 
ed vigor  the  long  cherished  partiality  of  the  septs  for  his  house.     This 
often  found  imprudent  expression,  greatly  distorted  and  exaggerated 
when  it  reached  the  queen.  He  found  little  difficulty,  however,  when  in 
her  presence  in  removing  her  distrust,  the  good  offices  of  his  sister, 
the  fair  Geraldiae,  now  wife  of  Lincoln,  lord  high  admiral,  and  her 
especial  favorite,  being  a  help.       His  success    in   bringing  Shane 
to  tei'ms  and  to   court,  his   services   against  O'Reilly,  O'Coghlans, 
O'Moores  and  O'Conors,  confirmed   her   confidence  in  his  loyalty. 
He  had  however  many  enemies.     Influential  counsellors  had  lost  their 
anticipated  share  of  the  spoils    by  his   restoration  to  his  paternal 
inheritance,  and  John  Allen,  formerly  chancellor,  now  one  of  the  com- 
missioners of  crown  lands,  near  akin  to  the  archbishop  who  perished 
in  the  rebellion  of  his  brother  lord  Thomas,  harbored  towards  him  a 
spirit  of  revenge,  watching  its  opportunity  with  unrelenting  rancor. 
Fitzwilliam  loved  him  not,  and  in  1560  accused  him  of  ambitious 
schemes,  rudely  demanding  his  follower  Daly  whom  Kildare  gave  up. 
When  at  war  with  the  O'Reillys,  some  of  the  Geraldines  robbing 
the  marshal,  Stanley,  of  "  a  keg  of  drink,"  a  battle  ensued,  threaten- 
ing serious  consequences,  when  the  earl  interposed  to  separate  the 
combatants.     In  1565,  Oliver  Sutton,  a  gentleman  of  the  pale,  and 
one  of  his  neighbors  in  Kildare,  wrote  Cecil  twenty  pages,  complain- 
ing of  his  taking  coyne  and  livery  against  the  law,  keeping  three 
hundred  Irish  to  attend    his  horses,  and   forty  messengers   to   go 
48 


378  TKANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

his  errands,  and  raising  supplies  for  five  hundred  guests  who  came  to 
visit  him  at  the  Christmas  and  Easter  festivals ;  and  that  when 
captain  of  Annaly,  an  office  which  Sydney  had  taken  away  from  him, 
he  quartered  the  eight  hundred  men  who  rode  in  his  company 
on  English  colonists.  Little  heed  was  paid  to  these  charges ;  but 
when  that  year  the  earl  arrested  Tyrrel  for  slaying  Gerald  Nugent, 
uncle  of  Delvin,  the  lord  justice  advised  Leicester  that  the  queen 
should  give  him  the  garter.  In  reply  she  commended  his  good  dis- 
positions and  advised  that  he  should  dislodge  Shane  from  Lecale,  but 
was  as  cheery  of  her  honors  as  of  her  gifts.  He  accompanied  Sydney 
from  Drogheda  in  the  march  to  Clogher,  burning  twenty-four  miles 
about  that  city ;  and  there  seems  little  doubt  that  he  continued 
loyal,  and  prudent  enough  to  avoid  suspicion. 

When  Shane  ceased  to  trouble,  the  queen  restored  to  him  what- 
ever belonging  to  his  father  remained  in  the  crown,  and  parliament 
reversed  his  attainder.  To  make  him  president  of  Ulster  was  even 
under  consideration.  In  the  early  summer  of  1572,  he  persuaded 
Rory  O'Moore  to  submission,  Byrnes  and  Cavanaghs,  and  in  1573 
with  Essex  held  parley  with  Desmond  and  his  brother  at  Water- 
ford.  The  next  year  John  Allen  and  Keating,  two  of  whose  kins- 
men his  people  had  waylaid  and  slain  by  his  orders  but  under 
instructions  from  Fitzwilliam  then  deputy,  accused  him  of  complicity 
with  rebel  chiefs,  but  carried  over  by  Fitton,  at  the  examination  be- 
fore the  privy  council  the  evidence  produced  betrayed  its  inspiration. 
After  nine  months  incarceration  his  wife  Mabel  joined  him.  He  was 
released  in  1576,  and  two  years  after,  when  his  eldest  son  Gerald 
had  married  the  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Knollys,  own  cousin  of 
the  queen,  permitted  to  go  home. 

For  a  while  his  enemies,  disheartened,  left  him  in  peace.  Baltin- 
glas  in  1579  sought  to  engage  him  in  the  catholic  cause,  and,  though 
refusing,  he  did  not  escape  suspicion.  To  a  general  muster  of  the 
troops  of  the  pale  gathered  at  Tara,  not  long  before,  he  rode  in  his 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  379 

M 

company ;  and  on  his  way  back  with  Loftus  was  thought  to  have 
screened  Baltinirlas  from  notice  under  circumstances  somewhat  sus- 
picious.  Certain  secret  interviews  with  him  later  appeared  equivocal, 
and  when  requested  to  arrest  him  he  excused  himself  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  his  near  kinsman,  and  such  a  step  woidd  weaken  his 
influence  in  Leinster.  When  the  catholic  rising  took  place  a  few 
weeks  afterwards,  with  his  son-in-law  Dclvin  also  compromised,  he 
was  again  sent  prisoner  to  the  tower,  recovering  his  liberty  not  long 
before  his  death  in  1585.  •  His  large  possessions  and  extensive  in- 
fluence constituted  him  a  power  in  Leinster,  and  though  somewhat  in 
anticipation  of  the  course  of  events,  this  sketch  will  serve  to  explain 
the  part  he  took  in  its  affairs. 

Elizabeth,  like  most  well  disposed  rulers  when  first  clothed  with 
power,  appreciated  her  obligations  and  opportunities.  Under  healthy 
influence  in  Cecil's,  and  prompted  by  her  own  sense  of  duty,  she 
strove  hard  to  amend  whatever  was  amiss  in  Irish  administration  or 
working  prejudice  to  the  general  w^fare.  It  was  no  easy  task. 
Selfish  officials,  more  concerned  for  their  own  emoluments  than  for 
the  public,  thwarted  plans  she  was  forced  to  abandon  or  defer.  In 
others  she  persevered.  The  currency  consisting  of  "  harps  "  or  other 
coins,  debased  one  fourth  below  English  standards,  she  called  in  by 
proclamation,  and  though  merchants  bought  them  up,  sixty  thousand 
pounds  weight,  three  ounces  fine,  issued  from  the  tower  mint  in 
London,  and  found  their  way  into  circulation.  Whetlier  working 
the  mines  of  Wexford,  parcelling  out  LeLx  and  Offaly,  regulating 
trade  by  imposts  or  defending  her  cess,  she  looked  sharp  to  her  regal 
rights,  and  her  own  gains  by  the  proceeding  were  estimated  at  two 
thousand  pounds.  Twenty  years  afterwards  she  adulterated  the 
smaller  coins,  and  just  before  her  death  the  larger.  As  she  was  at 
that  time  feeble  in  mind  and  body,  perhaps  she  herself  had  less  to  do 
wath  it  than  Robert  Cecil,  whom  experience  in  this  particular  had 
made  wiser  than  his  father.     In  1602  royal  proclamation  was  made 


380  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

that  the  good  coin  had  been  sent  out  of  Ireland  in  such  quantities 
to  purchase  arms  and  munitions  of  war  for  the  rebels  that  little  waa 
left,  and  that  return  to  coin  of  inferior  alloy  had  become  a  necessity. 

WhUst  replacing  where  she  could  catholic  bishops  by  protestant, 
it  was  not  till  pope  Pius  V.  in  1569,  issued  his  decree  excommuni- 
cating and  deposing  the  queen,  and  absolving  her  subjects  from  al- 
legiance, that  their  liberty  to  worship  as  they  pleased  was  seriously 
infringed.  So  long  as  her  encouragement  of  Alencon,  heir  pre- 
sumptive to  the  French  throne,  as  her  suitor,  kept  at  bay  the 
Spaniards,  it  was  her  policy  to  be  tolerant.  When  his  death  placed 
Henry  of  Navarre,  a  protestant,  one  step  nearer  to  the  throne,  and 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  brought  into  more  intimate  alliance 
Philip  and  the  Guises,  then  in  the  ascendant,  she  lent  strength  to 
William  of  Orange  to  readjust  the  balance  for  her  own  security. 
Realizing  that  Ireland  was  the  portion  of  her  dominions  most  open 
to  attack,  from  its  religious  beliefs,  she  redoubled  her  efforts  to  change 
them.  Her  English  subjects  in  the  island  stood  in  her  way.  Of  the 
twenty-eight  Irish  peers,*  consisting  of  seven  earls,  four  vis- 
counts, and  seventeen  barons,  nearly  all  English  in  race,  Ormond 
Kildare  and  Fitzpatrick  had  conformed  or  were  lukewarm,  the  rest 
for  the  most  part  continued  catholic.  Penal  laws  but  proved 
of  little  avail.  Priests  and  Jesuits  driven  into  exile,  and  fines  imposed 
upon  the  laity  for  not  attending  church,  converted  indifference  into 
zeal. 

But  confiscation  of  church  property,  dispersion  of  the  monastic 
orders  left  little  revenue  for  maintenance  of  churches  or  priest.  The 
former  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  if  regular  or  secular  performed 

*  Students  of  history  are  frequently  at  a  loss  for  the  family  names  of  persons  designated 
by  titles  of  rank  or  office.  The  upper  house  of  the  Irish  parliament  besides  a  score  of 
bishops,  consisted  at  this  time  of  the  Fitzgeralds,  earls  of  Kildare  and  Desmond ;  Butlers 
Ormond,  Montgarret,  Dunboyne  and  Cahir;  McCarthy,  Clancarre;  O'Brien,  Thomond; 
Burke,  Clanrickard ;  Barry,  Buttevant;  Roche,  Fermoy ;  Bermingham,  Carbury  and  Ath- 
enry ;  De  Courcy,  Kinsa'le;  Fitzeustace,  Baltinglas;  Preston,  Gormanstown;  Nugent, 
Delvin;  Fleming,  Slane;  St.  Lawrence,  Howth;  Plunkets,  Killecn,  Louth  and  Dunsany ; 
Barnewal,  Trimlestown;  Fitzmaurice,  Kerry;  Power,  Curraghmore;  Fitzpatrick,  Upper 
Ossory ;  and  O'Neil,  Dungannon. 


TRANSFEK     OF     ERIN.  381 

his  functions,  it  was  without  observation  or  by  steakh.  Active 
manhood  enjoyed  its  freedom  from  ii'ksome  restraints,  and  im- 
moralities and  disregard  of  religious  obligation  prevailed.  So 
state  authorities  entitled  to  respect,  and  such  was  the  natm'al  conse- 
quence of  destro}dng  existing  religious  institutions,  when  the 
whole  people  were  opposed  to  what  were  to  be  substituted  in  their 
stead.  Eloquent  preachers,  and  among  them  John  Knox,  sent  over 
to  convert  in  a  strange  language  produced  no  effect.  Not  sixty 
out  of  two  millions  of  whom  the  Irish  consisted,  according  to  Ma- 
geoghan,  embraced  the  new  doctrine.  That  request  should  be  made 
to  allow  the  clergy  to  officiate  in  latin,  as  that  alone  could  be 
understood,  shows  hoAv  generally  the  old  rites  must  have  rendered 
it  famihar. 

The  queen,  obstinately  set  upon  her  object  rather  from  policy  than 
conscience,  insisted  that  all  her  subjects  should  be  catholic.  Fines 
were  imposed  upon  whoever  refused  to  attend  the  protestant  service, 
the  roll  was  called  in  the  churches  of  the  cities  and  towns  under 
English  control,  persistent  contumacy  constituted  treason,  forfeited 
substance  and  life,  but  men's  minds  were  not  to  be  convinced  upon 
compulsion.  Masses  were  attended,  priests  harbored  and  a  feeling 
of  bitterness  engendered  at  this  absurd  spirit  of  dictation,  rendering 
of  no  effect  either  persuasion  or  force.  It  was  no  excuse  that  catho- 
lic prelates  and  potentates  had  set  the  example.  A  Christianity 
professing  nearer  approach  to  its  precepts  should  ha\e  been  more 
enlightened.  Worldly  considerations  attached  exclusively  to  neither 
race  nor  faith.  Still  grace  quickens  under  persecution.  Walsh  dis- 
possessed administered  the  sacraments,  kept  alive  what  remained  in 
the  island  of  Catholicism  as  a  church.  Hundi'eds  of  priests  and  all 
but  four  bishops  sufficiently  confonned  to  retain  their  preferments. 
When  Gregory  in  1576  absolved  Ireland  also  from  allegiance,  Loftus 
urged  sterner  measures  and  heavier  penalties.  A  star  chamber  in 
Dublin  with  secret  sessions,  instruments  of  torture  and  no  law,  im- 


382  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

posed  summary  punishment  on  political  or  religious  offenders,  and 
public  attention,  on  the  stretch  for  what  it  portended,  fretted  and 
fevered. 

Correspondence  preserved  from  this  period  proves  that  with  its 
religious  turmoil  Christianity  had  little  to  do.  Saints  and  martyrs, 
lay  or  cleric,  were  out  of  place  in  that  cold  pitiless  selfishness,  which 
shaping  opinion  and  governing  men's  lives,  usurped  its  name.  Scram- 
ble for  church  dignities  or  confiscations,  or  for  other  valuable 
possessions,  vesting  in  the  crown  and  yielded  up  to  favor  or  impor- 
tunity with  wasteful  prodigahty,  demoralized,  as  the  chance  rotations 
of  that  later  wheel  of  fortune  now  proscribed  by  enlightened  nations. 
All  alike,  from  deputy  and  primate  down  through  all  grades  of  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  administration,  were  beggars,  and  public  policy 
had  often  to  withhold  its  hand,  lest  in  gratifying  one,  hosts  of  disap- 
pointed supplicants  should  become  disaffected.  For  the  church  this 
was  a  poor  school  for  the  growth  of  christian  grace.  Self-denial, 
self-surrender,  consecration  of  life  to  duty  and  the  welfare  of 
others,  a  contrite  spirit  accepting  providence  however  disagreeable 
without  repining,  not  for  heaven  or  from  fear  of  losing  it,  but  to  an- 
swer the  divine  will  and  purpose,  such  may  well  have  been  more 
generally  the  religion  of  persecuted  priests,  beset  with  peril,  guiding 
passing  souls  from  pain  and  poverty  to  joy  and  rest,  than  of  prelates 
of  the  new  church  lapped  in  luxury  and  ease,  caring  little  for  their 
flocks  unless  to  shear  them. 

In  the  many  parishes  they  controlled,  if  the  sacred  edifice  had 
sufficiently  escaped  dilapidation,  the  new  service  in  an  unknown 
tongue  suggested  no  single  familiar  association.  Where  from  habit 
parishioners  resorted  with  beads  and  rosaries  to  their  accustomed  de- 
votions within  its  walls,  chilled  by  the  change  they  found  there  they 
went  saddened  away.  In  Meathout  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-four 
parishes,  the  glebes  of  nearly  half  were  alienated  or  leased  to  farmers. 
Curates  appointed  by  non-resident  incumbents  read  the  service,  but 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  383 

only  eighteen  understood  English.  The  rest  were  for  the  most  part 
Irish  priests,  who  may  have  o])enly  conformed  to  perform  in 
secret  their  ministrations.  But  in  many  places,  English  clerics, 
where  they  could  without  apprehension,  occupied  the  pulpits  and 
preached  or  prayed  to  empty  walls.  Their  wives,  if  their  stipends 
allowed,  flaunted  their  rich  attii'c  in  towns  and  villages  to  the  aston- 
ishment and  scandal  of  devout  catholics,  to  whom  a  married 
clergyman  was  an  abomination. 

In  remoter  sees,  catholic  bishops  were  vmdisturbed.  Thomas 
O'Herlihy  of  Ross,  M'Congal  of  Kilfenora,  Hart  of  Achonry  retained 
their  posts,  the  latter  rounding  his  centuiy  in  IGOS.  Curwen, 
chancellor  and  primate,  old  and  infirm,  in  15G7  surrendered  Dub- 
lin to  Loftus,  who  Avas  translated  from  Armagh,  and  accepted  instead 
the  bishoprick  of  Oxford.  Lealy  superseded  Bodkin  in  Tuam. 
Magrath  who  had  submitted  to  the  pressure  of  the  time,  occupied 
Cashel,  whilst  his  competitor  Dermod  O'Herlihy  appointed  by  the 
pope,  Gregory  XIIL,  arrested  at  the  earl  of  Ormonds,  after  torture 
of  peculiar  aggravation,  was  hung  in  Dublin  in  early  morning  to 
avoid  disturbance.  Kildare's  influence  could  not  save  from  depriva- 
tion the  companions  of  his  exile ;  Brady  taking  the  place  of  Walsh 
in  Meath,  and  Leverous  giving  way  to  Craik,  who  as  dean  of  St. 
Patrick's  put  up  the  first  clock  in  the  caj)ital.  He  soon  wearied  of  his 
post  as  the  people  of  his  preaching,  and  having  from  want  of  judg- 
ment parted  with  lands  and  manors  belonging  to  his  see  for  tithes  of 
little  value,  was  cast  into  the  Marshalsea  or  debtors'  prison  for  not 
paying  his  first  fruits  to  the  crown.  Foley  renounced  the  pope  but 
without  advantage,  Cavanagh  taking  his  place  in  Loughlin.  Thonery 
successor  of  Bale  in  Ossory  made  way  in  1566  for  Gaffuey  ;  Skiddy 
held  Cork  and  Cloyne  for  nine  years,  and  a  brother  of  O'Neil  kept 
M'Caughwell  out  of  Down.  Maurice  son  of  the  chief  of  A ra  re- 
tained Kylalloe.  Lismore  had  a  Catholic  bishop  to  1585,  Clogher, 
Raphoe  and  Derry  later. 


384 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


Of  the  prevailing  disorders  ecclesiastical  revenues  partook.  The 
archiepiscopalsee  of  Dublin,  in  olden  times  the  richest  see  under  the 
crown,  yielded  but  four  hundred  pounds.  The  greater  part  of 
the  protestant  bishops  regarded  the  diocesan  property  as  their 
own ;  and  by  long  leases  and  heavy  fines  impoverished  their 
successors.  Allen  of  Femes  and  Lynch  of  Elphin  by  ruinous 
alienations  supplied  their  immediate  needs,  and  others  from  improvi- 
dence exchanged  what  had  been  spared  in  the  general  confiscation  of 
church  property  for  inadequate  considerations.  The  new  faith  was 
on  its  trial.  It  is  not  surprising  that  it  attracted  no  converts.  Ware 
and  Spenser  and  the  most  prejudiced  protestant  authorities  admit  that 
greedy  hicrarchs  and  a  clergy  neither  devout  nor  instructed  dishonored 
their  profession.  To  remedy  the  latter  evil,  Loftus  proposed  in  1563 
St.  Patrick's  in  the  capital  should  be  appropriated  for  a  university, 
greatly  to  the  disgust  of  Curwen  the  existing  incumbent  of  the  see, 
but  his  views  underwent  modification  when  he  himself  succeeded. 

Among  the  magnates  of  the  pale  detraction  was  rife  and  venomous. 
Of  one  mind  in  appropriating  what  belonged  to  the  septs,  they  were 
in  perpetual  contention  amongst  themselves  as  to  the  spoils,  Ber- 
mingham  censured  Sussex  for  his  extravagance,  promising  to  save 
thirty  thousand  pounds  in  the  annual  expenses  if  allowed.  Sussex 
and  Sydney  indulged  in  mutual  recriminations.  Arnold  and  Fitz- 
william  judged  and  were  judged.  Sir  Thomas  Cusack  happily 
escaped  calumny,  and  by  his  wisdom  and  moderation,  and  especially 
as  a  peacemaker  secured  the  esteem  he  deserved.  He  pacified  O'Neil, 
reconciled  Ormond  and  Desmond,  interposed  between  Chevers  and 
Carew,  and  though  occasionally  himself  a  petitioner  for  royal  grants 
his  memory  stands  out  in  bold  relief  amidst  the  frets  and  avidities  of 
a  corrupt  age.  Thomas  Elyot,  master  gunner  for  thirty  years, 
in  charge  of  the  artillery  which  battered  down  feudal  strongholds 
and  established  English  ascendancy,  likewise  stood  high  in  the  gen- 
eral estimation,  and  Draycot  master  of  the  rolls  deserves  mention  for 
arranging  and  preserving  the  records  in  the  castle. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  385 

Lcinstcr  was  only  comparatively  quiet.  I'lic  dispossessed  chief- 
taius  from  their  mountain  retreats  watched  for  op])ortunity  to  wreak 
their  resentment  on  the  usurpers  of  their  ancestral  abodes,  hovering 
about  their  settlements  and  inflicting  what  injury  they  could.  For 
eighteen  years  Kory  O'^Ioore,  allowed  even  by  his  foes  many  esti- 
mable qualities,  kept  his  clan  organized  in  out  of"  the  way  places,  the 
dread  and  scourge  of  the  colonists,  losing  no  occasion  of  molesting 
them  and  batHing  every  attempt  at  pursuit.  O'Connors  and  O'Car- 
rols  continued  their  marauds,  O'Byrnes  and  O'Tooles,  and  Sir 
Edmund  Butler,  repi'csentative  of  Ormond  then  absent  in  England, 
and  the  Graces  warred  with  Oliver  Fitzgerald.  Another  grievance 
complicated  the  turmoil ;  Sir  Peter  Carew  set  up  a  stale  claim  to  half 
Cork,  to  Idrone  in  Carlow  belonging  to  the  Cavanaghs,  and  also  to 
Macleitham  in  j\Ieath  held  by  Chevers. 

Born  of  an  influential  family  in  Devon,  Carew  after  adventures 
in  many  lands  returned  to  study  up  this  traditional  [)retension  to  Irish 
estates  ;  and  gaining  favor  with  the  queen  persuaded  her  and  (!ecil  to 
allow  its  adjudication  not  in  the  courts  of  law  but  by  the  Irish  coun- 
cil. His  ancestor  sixteen  jjencrations  before  married  a  daughter 
of  Bigod,  earl  of  Noi'folk,  who  had  inherited  Carlow  through  an 
heiress  of  Eva,  but  the  grandson  of  Bigod  surrendered  his  lands  to  the 
crown  for  an  annuity  of  one  thousand  pounds.  Moreover  any  title 
derived  from  this  source  had  been  long  forfeited  under  the  act 
against  absentees.  In  the  next  generation,  William  Carew  is  stated 
to  have  married  l^^lizabeth  daughter  of  Robert  Fitzstephen,  grantee 
with  Cogan  of  Cork  ;  but  Kobert  left  no  lawful  issue  as  proved  in 
1333,  when  the  same  claim  on  a  grant  made  nearly  two  centuries 
before,  of  the  larger  portion  of  which  there  had  not  been  even  con- 
structive possession,  was  advanced  and  disallowed. 

Two  generations  later  in  the  pedigree  comes  William,  added  by 
Hooker  from  ancient  documents,  upon  which  it  is  intimated  little  de- 
pendence can  be  placed.     The  grandson  of  this  William  is  said  to  have 
49 


386  TKANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

married  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Digon,  baron  of  Idrone,  which 
their  son  John  who  died  in  1324  did  not  long  retain.  Recovered 
by  the  Cavanaghs  its  rightful  owners  it  had  been  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  in  their  undisputed  possession,  when  this  claim  was  advanced 
and  strange  to  say  allowed  by  the  council.  Chevers  not  being  able 
to  show  any  fee  in  himself  in  six  sevenths  of  the  land  in  dispute  which 
he  held  in  Meath,  was  glad  by  a  small  payment  to  compromise  and 
confess  judgment,  receiving  back  the  whole,  which  confirmed  his  title. 
As  will  be  seen  later  the  claim  of  Carew  to  half  Cork,  was  to  as 
little  purpose,  his  death  at  Ross  by  disease  in  1575  and  that  of  his 
cousin  of  the  same  name,  four  years  later  in  battle,  putting  an  end  to 
this  proceeding.  Sir  George,  afterwards  president  of  Munster  and 
earl  of  Totness,  brother  of  the  second  Sir  Peter,  and  natural  guar- 
dian of  his  niece,  who  grew  up  to  marry  two  husbands,  Wilford 
and  Apsley,  had  the  good  sense  in  her  behalf  not  to  pursue  it. 

The  early  death  of  the  original  claimant  one  year  before  that  of 
Essex,  and  his  cousin's,  to  whom  he  left  his  estates,  so  soon 
afterwards,  suggests  the  fatality  attending  the  De  Burghs  and 
Mortimers,  and  so  many  other  landloupers  of  earlier  days  in  the 
island.  Many  died  natural  deaths,  none  of  course  preternatural  as 
intimated  by  chroniclers .  But  it  was  a  wicked  age .  When  the  queen 
could  connive  at  the  assassination  of  Shane,  deputy  and  earl  take  off 
the  Keatings,  Smith  the  apothecary  of  Dublin,  who  received  for  his 
mysterious  reward  a  day's  pay  of  the  governor  and  army,  may  have 
been  put  occasionally  to  such  uses  as  drugging  Ormond's  cup  or 
platter  at  Ely  House,  or  that  choice  wine  which  sent  by  one  of  his 
name,  colonist  of  Ards,  to  O'Neil,  all  but  succeeded  in  relieving 
administration  of  an  embarrassment. 

When  the  council  decided  that  Idrone  belonged  to  the  claimant, 
the  Cavanaghs  naturally  rose  to  defend  this  remnant  of  their  once 
extensive  possessions.  Too  near  Dublin  for  effectual  resistance,  Ca- 
rew stationed  at  Leighlin  dispossessed  them  with  relentless  cruelty, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  387 

slaughtering  hundreds  unarmed,  besides  women  and  children- 
Possibly  as  some  security  against  similar  pretensions,  Mac  I'Brian 
Ara,  Ferral  and  forty  subordinate  chiefs  in  Annaly,  some  of  the 
Cavanaghs,  Gilpatricks,  JNIcFallons,  Mageoghans,  McShanes  and 
many  other  chieftains  surrendered  their  estates  to  the  crown,  taking 
back  regrants  on  English  tenure.  In  1562  Annaly,  the  home  of 
the  Ferrals,  had  been  created  the  county  of  Longford,  and  not  long 
after  Monoghan  of  the  Ulster  Mac  Mahons,  was  made  shire  ground. 
Philipstown  and  Maryboro',  already  two  years  before  licensed  as 
market  towns,  were  erected  into  boroughs  in  1569.  Parliament  had 
appointed  commissioners  to  parcel  out  the  new  counties  into  baronies, 
to  be  planted  each  by  nine  score  planters.  O'Mores  were  to  have 
Leix  beyond  the  bog,  each  chief  to  be  answerable  for  his  sept,  and 
hold  of  the  fort.  Freeholders  were  to  cause  their  children  to  learn 
and  speak  English,  keep  open  the  fords,  destroy  the  strongholds  and 
cut  the  passes.  They  were  not  to  marry  or  foster  with  any  but  of 
English  blood  without  heense  from  the  deputy,  and  in  every  town 
were  to  build  a  church  within  three  years.  This  was  easier  to  order 
than  carry  out,  and  little  progress  was  made. 

In  1575,  drought  and  intense  heat  brought  with  them  the  plague, 
which  raged  virulently  in  Dublin,  Naas,  Ardee,  Mullingar  and 
Athboy.  Before  the  year  had  ended,  Sydney  returned  for  the  last 
time  to  find  the  country  one  scene  of  warfare  and  intestine  commo- 
tion. He  reconciled  the  Kinel  Connel  and  Kinel  Owen,  and  the 
annaHsts  say  compelled  Essex  to  go  home.  Con  O'Donnel  escaped 
with  Con  O'Neil  from  the  castle.  The  next  year  Mary  Nugent  jeal- 
'  ous  of  her  husband,  Hugh  O'Keilly,  burnt  the  monastery  of  Cavan 
and  the  town  from  the  castle  of  Tullymongan  to  the  river.  O'Rourke 
was  busy  in  raiding  Annaly.  O'Carrol  surrendered  his  estates, 
taking  them  back  on  English  tenure,  and  the  chief  of  OfFaly  by 
persuasion  of  the  deputy  accepted  the  actual  situation  of  affairs,  and 
though  stripped  of  the  larger  and  more  valuable  portion  of  his  domin- 
ions pledged  himself  to  peace. 


388  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Eory  O'More,  recently  yielding  to  the  urgency  of  Kiklare,  had  also 
agreed  to  be  quiet.  His  grandfiather  Connal  in  1557  had  been  hung 
at  Leighlin.  The  territory  of  his  ancestors  had  been  parcelled  out 
amongst  strangers.  He  had  himself  been  hunted  down  by  the  Eng- 
lish as  a  wild  beast  of  the  forest.  Yet  wearied  of  incessant  warfare 
he  longed  for  rest.  The  constant  encroachments  and  interference  of 
Francis  Cosbie  seneschal  of  Leix,  an  official  grasping  and  of  harsh 
and  unpleasant  disposition,  fretted  his  temper  and  provoked  hostilities, 
till  every  colonist,  whose  home  was  not  a  castle  and  protected  by  ar- 
tillery, was  forced  to  abandon  his  newly  acquired  possessions,  and 
seek  shelter  in  the  pale  or  the  larger  towns  of  Leix.  In  an  engage- 
ment wliich  took  place  between  Rory  and  the  English,  Eory  captured 
Alexander,  son  of  Cosbie,  and  Harrington  one  of  the  council,  and 
held  them  for  ransom. 

It  chanced  that  the  huntsman  of  Rory,  subjected  by  his  chief  to 
punishment  for  some  misdemeanor,  went  over  to  the  enemy  and 
persuaded  Harpol,  seneschal  of  Carlow,  to  attempt  their  rescue. 
Harpol  with  two  hundred  men  under  guidance  of  the  huntsman, 
one  stormy  night,  surrounded  Rory's  abode,  which  protected  by  a 
rampart  with  two  entrances,  lay  in  the  densest  part  of  the  wood. 
There  Rory  was  sleeping,  his  wife,  cousin  of  Ormond,  and  an  old  man 
being  with  him,  and  near  by  him  his  prisoners  bound.  When  the 
net  was  spread  and  the  avenues  guarded,  guns  were  fired,  which 
rousing  the  chieftain  from  his  slumbers,  he  seized  his  arms  and  taking 
for  granted  that  it  was  a  plot  of  his  prisoners,  he  slashed  at  them 
with  his  sword,  wounding  Harrington  severely  in  the  arm.  Cutting 
his  way  through  the  foe  he  escaped  unharmed  into  the  forest.  The 
soldiers  killed  his  wife  and  the  old  man,  and  relieved  Cosby  and  Har- 
rington of  their  bonds.  Rory  naturally  stirred  to  revenge  by  the 
fiendish  murder  of  his  wife,  devastated  Carlow,  and  bursting  at  night 
upon  Naas,  sat  on  a  stone  in  the  market  place  whilst  his  men  gave 
the  town  to  the  flames.     Not  long  after,  Fitzpatrick  baron  of  Ossory 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  389 

went  with  five  hundred  English  and  Irish  in  pursuit  of  Rory,  who, 
while  reconnoitring  and  watching  their  movements,  taken  at  disadvan- 
tage was  slain.  His  sept  enraged  at  the  loss  of  their  beloved  chieftain 
thereupon  rushed  upon  the  army  of  Ossory,  and,  though  inferior  in 
numbers,  routed  them  with  great  slaughter,  their  leader  effecting  his 
escape  by  the  sj)eed  of  his  horse. 

The  death  of  Ivory  afforded  some  equivalent  for  their  discomfiture, 
whilst  his  sept  and  subordinate  chieftains  realizing  how  much  they 
were  weakened,  now  that  he  was  no  longer  their  leader,  considered 
the  conjuncture  propitious  for  favorable  terms  and  entered  into  neo-o- 
tiations  for  peace.  Their  overtures  accepted  without  hesitation,  and 
never  dreaming  of  treachery,  the  chieftains  of  the  seven  septs  of  Leix, 
O'Mores,  Kellys,  Lalors,  Devoys,  ]\[acaboys,  Dorans  and  Dowlings 
with  some  hundred  of  their  principal  followers  repaired,  on  the  public 
faith  and  under  protection  of  the  government,  to  the  rath  of  Mulla- 
mast,  five  miles  from  Athee  in  Kildare,  for  a  conference  ;  and  there 
surrounded  by  a  large  force  of  infantry  and  cavalry  were  slaughtered  in 
cold  blood.  Harry  Lalor,  as  he  was  entering  the  rath,  having  the 
wit  to  discover  what  was  intending,  shunned  the  snare  by  timely 
flight  and  warned  others  on  their  way. 

Responsibility  for  this  massacre  of  unarmed  men  invited  to  a 
friendly  conference,  rests  primarily  and  in  all  probability  exclusivelv 
upon  Cosbie  and  Harpol,  Piggots,  Bowens,  Hovendons,  and  others, 
catholics  as  well  as  protestants,  of  whom  there  were  then  not  many  in 
Ireland.  It  may  have  been  in  retaliation  for  inroads  upon  their 
grants  from  the  crown  of  land  wrested  from  the  septs.  It  is  alleged 
that  it  was  with  the  knowledge  and  assent  of  Sydney,  and  if  so  casts 
a  cloud  on  a  character  generally  estimable.  If  true  it  must  have  been 
one  of  his  last  acts  before  leaving  Ireland  forever,  and  he  might 
well  bemoan  his  twenty  years  service,  which  had  made  him  twenty 
thousand  pounds  poorer,  left  him  five  thousand  in  debt,  and 
loaded  his  memory  with  reproach.     Although  a  supplicant  for  royal 


390  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

favors  it  is  to  his^creclit  he  did  not  enrich  his  family  with  Irish  lands, 
and  that  Sir  Philip,  his  son,  had  no  part  or  work  in  Irish  conquests. 
•That  no  mention  is  made  of  it  in  cotemporary  public  records  has 
surro-ested  doubt  if  this  fiendish  massacre  ever  took  place.  In 
1577  a  plan  for  extirpating  the  rebels  was  entertained,  as  Sydney 
states  in  his  letter  to  the  council,  in  which  the  cost  of  the  war  against 
the  O'Mores  and  O'Conors  is  estimated  at  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds.  In  the  same  communication  he  mentions  the  rescue  by 
Harpol  of  Cosbie  on  the  eleventh  of  October  1577,  and  in  the  July 
following  in  another  the  death  of  Rory  the  thirtieth  of  June.  The 
massacre  is  here  described  as  related  by  the  Four  Masters,  compiled 
in  1636  at  Donegal,  and  by  Philip  O'Sullivan  in  his  history  published 
in  1621.  Dermod,  son  of  Dermod,  prince  of  Beare  and  Bantry, 
and  father  of  Philip  with  whom  the  author  was  residing  in  Spain 
when  writing  his  work,  died  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  years  after 
a  busy  life  in  military  service  about  the  time  of  its  publication.  He 
must  have  known  the  truth  of  what  actually  occurred,  and  it  is  un- 
happily too  abundantly  corroborated  by  tradition  and  other  sources 
for  reasonable  doubt.  If  no  distinct  trace  is  found  in  state  papers  of 
the  event,  they  were  in  the  keeping  of  English  officials,  who  may  not 
have  cared  to  preserve  what  reflected  upon  the  honor  of  their  own 
countrymen,  and  if  known  might  justify  or  provoke  retaliation. 

Evidence  fortunately  exists  to  exonerate  Sydney  from  complicity. 
A  memorial*  of  Thomas  Lee,  referring  to  this  affair  at  Mullamast,  says, 
"  They  have  drawn  unto  them  by  protection  three  or  four  hundred  of 
the  country  people,  under  color  to  your  majesty's  service,  and 
brought  them  to  a  place  of  meeting  where  your  garrison  soldiers 
were  appointed  to  be,  who  have  there  most  dishonorably  put  them 
all  to  the  sword,  and  this  hath  been  by  the  consent  and  practice  of 
the  lord  deputy  for  the  time  being.  If  this  be  a  good  course  to  draw 
these  savage  people  to  the  state,  to  do  your  majesty  service,  and  not 

*  In  the  Desiderata  Curiosa,  vol.  ii.  page  91,  and  dated  1596. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  391 

rather  to  enforce  them  to  stand  upon  their  guard,  I  humbly  leave  to 
your  majesty."  Lee,  connected  by  marriage  with  Eustace,  lord 
of  Baltinglas,  took  part  in  his  rebellion,  but  \vi],s  reformed  and  sent 
into  Flanders.  His  position  was  favorable  for  accurate  information 
as  to  events.  His  expression  of  "deputy  for  the  time  being"  evi- 
dently points  at  Drury,  who  succeeded  Sydney  the  first  day  of 
September,  1578,  two  months  after  the  death  of  Rory,  and  whose 
administration  of  a  twelvemonth  closing  with  his  death  made  way 
for  Sir  William  Pelham's,  who  surrendered  the  government  to  lord 
Grey  in  August,  1580. 

At  this  period  began  to  be  agitated  a  grievance  sensibly  felt  by  the 
lords  of  the  pale,  which  reminds  us  here  of  one  of  our  own,  which 
led  to  our  national  existence.  Impositions  levied  from  necessity, 
at  first  W'ith  some  degree  of  moderation  and  submitied  to  without 
a  murmur,  had  grown  into  exactions,  oppressive  and  arbitrary,  no 
longer  to  be  patiently  borne.  A  cess  for  support  of  the  vice-regal 
household  and  the  army,  more  intolerable  even  than  coyne  and 
livery,  rested  heavily  upon  proprietors  within  reacli  of  government 
process,  who  finding  no  other  redress,  sought  relief  fx*om  the  throne. 
In  1576,  Baltinglas,  Howth,  Delvin,  Sarsfield,  Nenagh,  Trimles- 
town,  Talbot  and  Killeen  petitioned  the  deputy  and  council  to 
abandon  or  modify  this  system  of  purveyance,  subjecting  them  to  an 
annual  damage  of  about  seven  thousand  pounds,  one  tliird  of  which 
enured  to  the  benefit  of  the  court.  For  beeves  worth  twenty  shillings 
not  one  half  was  allow^ed,  for  sheep  a  single  shilling,  when  their 
value  was  half  a  crown,  and  no  more  for  calves  that  sold  in  the 
market  for  five  times  as  much.  No  satisfactory  answer  vouchsafed 
to  their  remonstrance,  they  despatched  Netterville.  Sherlock  and 
Burnell,  all  able  lawyers,  to  the  queen  who  listened  at  first  gracious- 
ly to  their  complaint,  expressing  her  fear  that  she  had  committed  her 
flocks  not  to  shepherds  but  to  wolves,  but  privately  instructed  by 
Sydney,  at  the  same  time  with  her  usual   inconsistency,  threw  the 


392  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

envoys  into  prison  for  their  audacity  in  questioning  her  prerogative. 
She  also  ordered  the  arrest  ot"  the  petitioners  who  had  sent  them. 
Sydney  proposed  to  commute  the  cess  for  four  marks  for  each  town- 
land,  but  that  was  declined  as  too  much  like  a  rent  charge.  After 
several  hearings  on  the  subject  and  consultation  with  Kildare,  then 
again  in  favor,  and  due  humiliation,  tliey  were  set  free,  and  composi- 
tion made  for  seven  years  purveyance. 

Had  the  queen  been  more  loyal  to  her  pledges ,  held  out  no  encour- 
agement to  be  disappointed,  she  would  have  better  attained  her  ends. 
To  Mulmorn.  O'Reilly  and  the  chiefs  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel 
earldoms  were  promised.  The  patents  passed  the  seal,  robes  were 
sent  to  the  chiefs,  and  some  of  the  three  thousand  royal  garments, 
sometimes  only  the  front  of  one  of  them,  to  their  wives,  to  keep  them 
in  a  state  of  expectation,  whilst  on  one  frivolous  pretext  or  another 
the  honor  was  deferred.  To  remove  one  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
Turlogh's  preferment,  it  was  proposed  that  the  young  baron  of  Dun- 
gannon,  who  had  repudiated  the  daughter  of  Brian  Mac  Phelim 
O'Neil  to  take  Judith  O'Donnel,  sister  of  Hugh,  should  marry  his 
daughter.  This  plan  now  encouraged  and  then  "impedited"  stirred 
up  strife  as  intended,  and  furnished  a  pretext  for  delay.  Such  courses 
did  not  increase  the  loyalty  of  the  chiefs,  who  realizing  that  they  were 
merely  amused  and  trifled  with,  easily  drifted  into  hostilities,  when 
good  faith  would  have  secured  their  adherence  at  critical  moments. 

Bryan,  son  of  that  Cahir  oNIac  Art  Cavanagh  who  was  created 
baron  of  Balian,  son-in-law  of  Eustace,  lord  Baltinglas,  and 
nephew  of  Gerald,  earl  of  Kildare,  "  a  brave  and  acomplished 
nobleman,"  killing  Robert  Brown  lord  of  Malranken  for  having 
insulted  him,  and  being  too  formidable  a  neighbor  to  be  left  unmolest- 
ed, Devereux  and  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Wexford  assembled  for 
the  purpose  of  avenging  the  death  of  Brown,  and  curbing  his  power. 
An  engagement  ensued  in  which  the  Cavanaghs  gained  a  decisive 
victory,  Devereux  and  thirty  of  his  officers  and  many  soldiers  falling 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  393 

in  the  figlit.  For  ten  years  Bryan  representing  liis  ancient  lin- 
eage, so  long  kings  of  Leinster,  sustained  his  reputation  as  a  distin- 
guished warrior.  His  abode  at  Borris  has  passed  since  through  eight 
generations  of  his  descendants,  of  scarcely  dhiiinished  lustre,  to  the 
present  proprietor,  in  whose  veins  commingles  the  blood  of  Ormonds, 
Mac  Carthies,  through  the  branch  of  Muskerry,  and  Mac  Morrogh. 


XXXV. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1002.— (Continued.) 
What  relates  to  Munster,  in  the  earlier  years  of  Elizabeth,  had 
few  connecting  links  with  affairs  elsewhere  in  the  land.  Broken  up 
into  small  but  virtually  independent  sovreignties  by  mutual  jealousy 
and  from  their  political  condition,  intercourse  discouraged  by  the 
dangers  besetting  its  paths  and  mainly  dependent,  except  in  favored 
localities  along  shore,  by  the  Shannon  or  about  the  lakes,  upon 
minstrels,  priests  or  merchants  itinerant,  hostings  or  raids,  the 
south  presented  what  in  degree,  greater  or  less,  was  observable  of  the 
whole  island  at  that  period,  a  curious  epitome  of  those  larger  theatres, 
continents  or  embracing  the  earth,  over  which  history  has  woven  its 
web.  They  fought,  intrigued  and  variously  combined  for  mutual 
protection  or  to  re-adjust  the  balance  of  power,  with  like  restless  ac- 
tivity as  grander  potentates.  Pent  up  by  their  insular  position, 
from  their  impassioned  and  fervid  temper  they  formed  a  seething 
cauldron,  which  if  occasionally  cooled  down  by  infusion  of  more 
phlegmatic  elements  from  over  the  sea,  soon  resumed  its  more  natu- 
ral ebullition  when  pressure  was  removed. 

Under  Mary,  they  had  enjoyed  unwonted  tranquillity.  Distinction 
of  race  obliterated  by  consanguinity,  common  language,  habits  and 
interests,  their  religious  rights  respected,  under  hereditary  rulers  to 

whom  they  were  attached,  lightly  taxed  and  exposed  to  no  confis- 
50 


394  TRANSFEK      OF     ERIN. 

cations,  the  states  of  Munster  had  good  reason  for  content.  But  they 
were  now  entering  upon  a  period  of  strife  and  cahiniity,  which  before 
the  century  closed  and  Tudor  dynasty  ended  subjected  them  to  an  un- 
scrupulous despotism,  wasting  farm  and  city,  whoever  survived,  if  not 
absolutely  bereft  of  their  possessions,  left  in  bondage  to  taskmasters, 
strange  and  pitiless.  The  anarchs  of  misrule,  whose  personal  ani- 
mosities unbarred  the  gates  for  all  this  misery,  overwhelming  one 
and  his  house  with  irremediable  ruin,  were  the  same  Geraldines  and 
Butlers,  who  commenced  that  subjugation  four  centuries  before, 
which  another  century  was  destined  to  consummate. 

James  the  fifteenth  Desmond  whose  death  in  1558  has  been  noted, 
setting  aside  Thomas  Ruagh,  his  eldest  son  by  Joanna  Roche  who 
stood  towards  him  within  prohibited  degrees,  left  the  earldom  to 
Gerald  his  second  son  by  Mora  O'Carroll.  The  new  earl  took  his 
oath  of  allegiance  at  the  end  of  November  to  the  dead  Mary,  tidings 
of  whose  demise  nine  days  before  had  not  yet  reached  him.  Teigue 
O'Brien,  son  of  the  first  earl  of  Thomond,  when  his  brother-in-law. 
Sir  Donald,  chief  of  Dalgais  had  been  driven  out  by  the  help  of 
Ormond,  had  taken  refuge  in  Desmond.  His  cousin  Conor,  the  third 
earl,  in  1559,  laying  siege  to  Inchiquin  his  family  castle,  where  his 
brother  Donogh  then  was,  he  persuaded  Gerald  to  go  to  his  relief. 
Conor  withdrew  to  effect  a  junction  with  his  friend  and  kinsman, 
earl  of  Clanrickard,  and  their  forces  had  united  at  Ballyally,  near 
Ennis,  when  Desmond  came  up.  "  The  two  camps  were  not  far 
asunder  that  night."  In  the  morning,  the  opposing  armies  skirmished 
and  manoeuvred  for  position,  till  they  reached  the  ridges  of  Spancil 
Hill,  four  miles  off.  Here  the  combat  was  long  and  obstinate.  The 
Dalgais,  say  the  chroniclers,  had  been  accustomed  to  drive  the  Ger- 
aldines, and  ascribe  the  change  of  fortune  that  day  to  the  presence  of 
Teigue  wath  its  enemies.  Gerald  gained  the  summit  of  the  hill  for 
which  they  were  contending,  and  routed  his  brother  earls,  who  lost 
on  that  bloody  field    many  chiefs  of  Sil  Aedha,  seven  of  the  Mac 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  395 

Sweenys,  including  both  constables  of  Thomond  and  Clanrickard, 
and  with  them  the  ilowcr  of  their  force.  Leaving  Teigue  and  Don- 
ogh  in  possessson  of  Inchiquin,  Gerald  returned  home  after  victory 
in  triumph. 

Another  Teigue  O'Brien,  son  of  Sir  Donald,  most  distinguished 
of  his  age  for  agility,  strength,  martial  feats  and  horsemanship,  died 
that  year  in  Fermanagh  ;  and  Eveleen,  widow  of  the  late  earl  of 
Desmond,  already  remarried  to  Conor,  carl  of  Thomond,  a  "charitable, 
humane,  friendly  and  pious  countess,"  was  laid  not  long  after  among 
her  kindred,  the  Mac  Carthys,  in  the  abbey  of  Mucruss.  When  Christ- 
mas came,  the  two  Geralds,  earls  of  Kildare  and  Desmond  held  their 
festivities  at  Limerick,  the  varied  experiences  of  the  former  in  his 
earlier  days  in  Italy  and  intercourse  with  Geraldines  of  Florence, 
doubtless  forming  for  them  both  an  interesting  subject  of  discourse. 

Irish  earldoms  in  the  sixteenth  century  were  no  sinecures  ;  and  for 
men  in  the  vigor  of  life,  energetic  and  more  fond  of  glory  and  pow- 
er than  studious  of  their  ease,  aiforded  opportunities  which  might 
have  been  better  improved  by  the  heads  of  the  two  branches  of  the 
Geraldines  now  together  at  Limerick,  than  they  were.  But  with 
such  pressure  from  without  and  discordant  elements  within,  although 
able  and  well  disposed,  such  laudable  intentions  had  they  entertained 
them  would  have  proved  of  little  avail.  Desmond  claimed  su- 
premacy throughout  an  extent  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  over 
a  medley  of  either  race,  who  paid  tribute  when  coerced,  filled  his 
marshal  array  if  the  object  pleased  them,  but  were  too  jealous  of  his 
authority  to  improve  their  condition  at  his  dictation.  They  were 
content  with  their  independence.  Yet  if  these  petty  autocrasies, 
under  his  lead  or  that  of  an  Irish  chieftain,  could  have  formed  a  fed- 
eral system  for  common  objects,  government  might  have  exercised  its 
legitimate  functions  for  liberty  and  not  oppression,  and  proved  a 
blessing,  not  a  curse.  With  their  inheritance  of  misrule,  however 
well  disposed  or  fitted  under  happier  auspices  to  meet  the  responsi- 


396  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

bilities  of  such  a  leadersliip  in  Munster,  the  embarrassments  that 
attended  the  career  of  Desmond,  if  not  his  traits  of  character,  hope- 
lessly discouraged  any  such  aspirations  for  him. 

One  of  the  most  turbulent  of  his  subjects  was  his  uncle  Maurice 
Duff,  who  twenty  years  before  slew  the  court  page,  and  who  had  re- 
ceived as  his  portion  of  the  family  domains,  Kerricurrihy  west  of  the 
cove  of  Cork.  In  1560  his  sons,  James  Fitsmaurice  who  afterwards 
occupied  a  conspicuous  position  in  the  history  of  Munster,  and 
Thomas,  invaded  their  neighbors,  the  Mac  Carthys  Reagh  of 
Carbery,  then  ruled  by  Finnin,  whose  brother  Donogh,  father  of 
Florence  and  their  own  brother-in-law,  collecting  a  fine  body  of  gal- 
loglasses  under  Turlogh  Mac  Sweeny  of  the  Tuath  branch  of  the 
name,  pursued  them  to  the  Bandon,  and  at  Inishowen  defeated  and 
slew  two  or  three  hundred.  Gerald  took  umbrage  at  this  procedure, 
either  from  its  compromising  his  peaceable  relations  with  so  great 
a  power  as  Carbery,  or  else  from  not  brooking  this  disrespect  shown 
to  his  authority.  The  resentment  it  occasioned  if  genuine  was  not 
easily  appeased  ;  but  correspondence  home  from  Dublin  represents  it 
as  feigned  and  for  ulterior  objects,  one  of  them  a  wish  not  to  be  called 
away  from  his  own  dominions  which  demanded  his  care. 

Naturally  of  an  overbearing  temper,  and  elated  by  his  recent  vic- 
tory, he  bore  with  little  patience  what  he  regarded  as  encroachments 
upon  his  rights.  His  neighbor  Ormond,  distantly  related  to  the  queen 
and  a  protestant,  stood  high  in  her  favor  and  had  received  the  ap- 
pointment of  lord  treasurer,  an  office  held  for  life  by  the  late 
Desmond  and  to  which  his  son  was  naturally  disappointed  in  not  sue-- 
Deeding  ;  without  much  reason,  as  the  father  of  Ormond  had  been  the 
predecessor  of  his  own.  He  had  a  grant  of  Oonagh  for  years  of  which 
Ormond  was  seeking  the  fee.  There  existed  another  and  more  serious 
source  of  contention  between  them.  Joanna,  only  child  of  the  elev- 
enth Desmond  and  mother  of  Ormond,  after  the  death  of  her  second 
husband  Sir  Francis  Bryan,  was  now  Gerald's  wife.     By  devise  or 


TEANSFER      OF      ERIN.  397 

family  settlement,  she  had  received  upon  tlie  death  of  her  father  the 
baronies  of  Clonmel  on  the  Suir ,  Kilfeacle  and  Killethan .  What  were 
the  terms  of  tlie  grant  does  not  appear,  but  Ormond  claimed  them 
before  the  death  of  his  mother  in  January,  15G4,  by  some  more  an- 
cient title,  although  through  her  lie  coidd  have  derived  none  Mdiilst 
she  lived.  In  1560,  their  respective  pretensions  by  mutual  defiance 
were  about  to  be  committed  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms  on  the  great 
road  from  Cashel  to  Tipperary,  their  whole  musters  confronting,  when 
reflecting  on  the  consequences  or  Sussex  interposing,  they  parted 
without  coming  to  blows.  A  few  months  after,  in  August  at  Clon- 
mel, Sir  Thomas  Cusack,  Stanley  the  marshal  and  Parker  master  of  the 
rolls  decided  in  favor  of  Desmond. 

Not  content  to  accept  their  decision  as  any  settlement  of  the  con- 
troversy, Ormond  waylaid  with  hostile  purpose  his  adversary,  as 
they  were  returning  home  from  Tyrone  ;  but  desisted  when  Sussex 
forbad.  He  Avrote  the  deputy  in  February  that  Desmond  had  burnt 
a  town  and  much  corn,  fallen  out  with  his  neighbors,  and  that  his 
people  had  robbed  one  of  his  own  near  Limerick  of  five  hundred 
pounds.  Soon  after  at  AVaterford,  they  promised  Fitzwilliam,  lord 
justice  in  the  absence  of  Sussex,  to  go  over  to  court,  as  requested, 
at  Easter.  Desmond  was  directed  not  to  exert  any  authority  over 
Barrys,  Kinsale,  Kerry,  Decies,  MacCarthies,  Sullivans,  Donoghues 
or  Callaghans,  but  only  over  his  own  kindred.  When  the  earls 
reached  London,  as  O'Neil  was  taking  his  leave,  Desmond,  least  in 
fault,  Avas  placed  in  custody  of  the  treasurer,  the  queen  assuring  his 
wife  she  meant  him  no  harm  and  nothing  but  kindness.  Yet  at  the 
same  time  reversing  the  award  of  the  commissioners,  she  vested  the 
disputed  baronies  in  'Ormond,  insisting  that  they  should  be  friends 
before  suffered  to  depart.  Desmond  requested  in  September  pass- 
ports for  himself  and  his  thirty-seven  attendants,  but  though  Ormond 
was  allowed  to  go  home  in  January,  he  was  detained  a  yeai-  lono-er. 
Joanna  besought  the  queen  for  his  release,  stating  that  in  their  quar- 


398  TRANSFER      OF      ERIX. 

rel  she  had  been  strictly  impartial  between  her  husband  and  son. 
The  queen  remained  inflexible,  though  releasing  him  from  con- 
finement, inviting  him  to  court,  lending  him  money  when  four  pounds 
was  all  he  had  left.  It  was  not  till  his  health  had  become  seriously 
impaired,  Cusack  had  entreated,  and  Cecil  and  Sydney  extorted  a 
promise  that  bonaghts,  risings  out,  brehon  law%  rhymers,  bards  and 
dice  players  should  be  suppressed,  subsidies  regularly  levied,  crown 
rights  to  wardships  and  marriages  enforced,  and  fourpence  "  cowe  " 
agreed  to  be  paid,  that  requesting  artillery  to  reduce  the  chiefs  to 
civility  and  leave  to  arrest  oflfenders,  he  was  permitted  in  December, 
1G53,  to  repair  to  his  dying  wafe,  who  survived  but  a  few  weeks  after 
his   reaching  Clonmel. 

Various  points  in  the  controversy  still  left  undetermined,  Cusack 
that  summer  reaffirmed,  certainly  in  part,  the  judgment  of  the  com- 
missioners, for  Desmond  later  complained,  and  that  after  the  death  of 
Joanna,  that  Ormond  had  collected  rents  in  one  of  the  baronies  in 
dispute.  The  prisage  of  wines  in  Kinsale  and  Youghal  w^as  adjudi- 
cated also  to  him,  though  given  ten  years  afterwards  to  Ormond  by 
the  queen.  Whilst  these  questions  were  pending,  a  messenger  from 
France  was  arrested  and  upon  him  found  a  free  pass  for  hounds  and 
hawks  sent  from  Desmond  and  O'Xeil  to  the  king,  and  though  in 
time  of  profound  peace,  it  gave  color  to  surmises,  which  lost  nothing 
in  circulation.  Desmond  w^as  ordered  to  lend  no  aid  to  Sir  Donald 
O'Brien  against  Thomond.  Before  the  year  closed  Ormond  wrote 
Cecil,  that  he  had  prohibited  coyne  and  livery  in  his  palatinate,  but 
encroachments  by  Desmond  compelled  him  to  resume  them. 

Kot  long  after  his  return  home,  Desmond's  uncle,  Maurice  Duv, 
although  over  eighty,  made  an  incursion  in  which  he  lost  his 
life,  into  Muskerry.  Dermod  chieftain  of  that  country,  also 
son-in-law  of  Maurice  as  was  Donogh  of  Carbery,  overtook  and  rout- 
ed him,  and  whilst  pursuing  his  men  left  the  old  man,  wdiom  he  had 
captured,  in  charge  of  four  of  his  own  follow^ers.     Maurice  a  trouble- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  399 

some  captive  was  slain  by  them,  "  tlioui>li  the  profit  of  sparing  him 
would  have  been  better  than  the  victory  gained  by  his  death."  As  the 
thirteenth  earl  of  Desmond  his  cousin  whom  he  slew,  had  taken  his 
bride  from  Blarney,  this  termination  of  his  earthly  career  savors  of  re- 
tribution. Dcrmod  being  especially  loyal  and  the  friend  of  the  deputy, 
this  invasion  of  his  territory  by  the  near  relatives  of  Gerald  might  have 
created  fresh  complications  for  him,  had  not  Maurice  been  too  head- 
strong and  lawless  for  any  one  to  be  held  accountable  for  his  pi'ocecdings, 

In  February,  1565,  the  feud  assumed  more  serious  proportions. 
Desmond  claiming  sovereign  rights  over  Decies,  Sir  Maurice  Fitz- 
gerald of  Dromanagh,  its  lord,  sent  for  Ormond  to  protect  his 
cattle  from  cess  ;  who  surprising  Desmond  with  an  inferior  force  at 
Affane  in  W^exford  attacked  him.  Pride  forbade  retreat.  The  un- 
equal combat  ended  in  disaster,  and  when  Gerald  borne  wounded  from 
the  field  on  a  litter  by  his  foes  was  asked  in  derision  "  where  was  now 
the  great  earl  of  Desmond,"  he  made  his  often  quoted  response,  "  where 
he  ought  to  be,  on  the  necks  of  the  Butlers."  Ormond  accused  him 
of  treason,  the  deputy  of  harboring  Cormac  of  Offaly  a  declared 
rebel,  Thomond  and  Clanrickard  with  wasting  their  lands,  and  in 
April  he  was  carried  over  by  Liverpool  to  London,  while  Eliza- 
beth heaped  upon  her  favorite  Ormond  whom  she  stykd  her  black 
husband,  honor  and  possessions,  abbey  lands  of  Holy  Cross  and 
Athassel,  releasing  him  from  large  arrearages  to  the  crown. 

Desmond  had  for  companion  across,  his  brother-in-law  Donald 
Mac  Carthy  Mor,  1518—1596,  upon  whom  the  queen  now  proposed  to 
confer  the  titles  of  earl  of  Clancarre  and  baron  of  Yalentia.  Chief 
of  his  name,  from  Pallis,  on  the  river  Lawne  near  Killarney,  his 
rule  extended  over  a  wide  range  of  country,  fertile  and  picturesque, 
and  he  claimed  supremacy  over  the  various  branches  of  the  Eoghan- 
acht,  sometimes  conceded  and  as  often  denied.  In  June  surrenderinjr 
his  domains  and  dominions,  he  received  them  back  to  hold  from  the 
crown,  and  requested  to   be   appointed  vice-admiral  upon   his  own 


400  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

shores,  to  have  the  patronage  of  all  spiritual  promotions  within  his 
county  of  Clancarre,  and  to  have  the  appointment  of  head  sheriff  of 
his  own  realm  and  an  abode  within  the  pale.  Prince  and  earl  of 
Desmond  thus  proceeding  together  under  such  different  auspices  to 
the  English  court,  offers  one  of  the  strange  vicissitudes  of  Irish 
history  ;  the  chieftain,  lineal  representative  of  the  ancient  kings  of 
Munster,  to  receive  such  honor  as  the  queen  had  long  promised  to 
bestow, — Gerald,  of  the  powerful  earls  who  had  usurped  and  abused 
its  sovereignty,  with  gloomy  presentiments  of  what  awaited  him. 
Near  kinsmen  and  closely  connected, — for  besides  many  ties  of  sim- 
ilar sort  in  that  and  former  generations,  Donald's  wife,  Honora,  was 
sister  of  the  earl,  whose  father's  had  been  Donald's  sister, — they 
were  alike  staunch  catholics,  and  since  1490,  when  the  tenth  Des- 
mond slew  in  battle  the  then  chieftain  of  Clancarthy,  friendly  relations 
between  their  two  houses  had  been  rarely  disturbed.  No  immediate 
or  important  conflicting  interest  now  existed  to  divide  them,  and  pro- 
bably neither  divined  the  motive  which  governed  the  queen  in  seeking 
to  weaken  Geraldine  power  and  influence  in  Munster,  by  raising  up 
a  formidable  competitor  for  its  supremacy. 

In  the  same  ship,  intended  for  similar  honors,  went  Owen 
O'Sullivan,  chief  of  Beare  and  Bantry,  an  area  stated  to  measure 
forty-two  miles  by  twenty-four,  which  he  also  surrendered,  re- 
ceiving it  back  Avith  the  honor  of  knighthood.  His  elder  brother 
Donel,  son  of  Dermod  whose  death  in  1549  at  Dunboy  has  been 
mentioned,  had  been  slain  in  1563  in  some  contention  or  contest  by 
one  of  his  race   "lord   of  the    Reeks."*     Donel,   "worthy   son  of 

*  After  the  invnsion,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  the  O'Siillivans,  defeated  near  Corli  in  an 
ambuscade  in  whicli  fell  eight  of  the  ten  sons  of  their  chief,  withdrew  from  Clonmel  and 
KnocgratFon  their  former  possessions  to  Bantry  and  Dunkerron.  Their  chieftain,  Donald 
More,  gave  when  he  died  one  third  of  his  territory  to  his  grandson,  "  child  of  his  affections 
and  of  his  goods,"  whose  descendants,  lords  of  the  Reeks,  lofty  mountains  in  Kerry,  as- 
sumed the  surname  of  Macgillicuddy,  thus  anglicised  from  Gil  Mochuda  or  followers  of 
that  good  bishop  of  Lismore  of  the  seventh  century,  adopted  for  the  patron  saint  of  the 
sept.  They  shared  in  the  misfortunes  of  their  country.  Their  chief,  who  in  the  days  of 
Cromwell  preferred  to  burn  his  castle  rather  than  surrender  it,  or  perhaps  his  son,  com- 
manded the  Irish  regiments  sent  into  Germany  by  William  III.  They  still  retain  consider- 
able portions  of  what  Donald  Mor  gave  his  grandson  more  than  six  centuries  ago,  which 
Richard  the  late  chief  held  forty  years,  and  upon  his  death  in  1866,  which  descended  to 
another  Richard  his  son. 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  401 

a  renowned  father,"  left  children,  but  too  young  to  rule,  and  Sir 
Owen  as  tanist  had  succeeded.  Owen  displayed  less  consideration 
for  the  eldest  representative  of  his  house  than  INIorrogh  of  Thomond, 
ancestor  of  the  vounger  Donnel,  taking  back  the  estates  entailed 
upon  his  own  sons,  the  eldest  of  whom  in  later  years  married  Joan 
daughter  of  Desmond.  During  his  life,  which  ended  in  1593,  he 
remained  through  all  the  disturbances  loyal  to  tlie  crown.* 

Off  Galway  bay,  the  isles  of  Arran  from  time  immemorial  had 
been  inhabited  by  a  branch  of  the  O'Briens,  freebooters  of  the  sea. 
who  infested  the  neighboring  shores  exacting  tribute  or  striking  by 
their  daring  exploits  consternation  in  places  more  remote.  In  1560 
Mahon,  their  chief,  with  marauding  intent  visited  Desmond,  but  the 
hospitable  welcome  he  received  changed  his  purpose  and  some  of  the 
inhabitants  accompanied  him  back  when  he  went  as  his  guests.  Upon 
his  return  voyage,  his  vessel  driven  at  night  by  a  furious  tempest 
past  Dun  Angus,  his  abode,  to  the  Moycullen  coast,  struck  on  a  rock 
and  foundering,  all  of  the  company,  more  than  one  hundred,  perish- 
ed, except  himself  and  three  more.  Tuathal  O'Malley,  whose 
kinswoman  Grace,  then  wife  of  O'Flaherty  we  shall  have  occasion 
again  to  mention,  "the  best  pilot  of  a  fleet  of  long  ships  of  his  day," 
went  down  with  the  rest. 

Ever  since  St.  Brendan  a  thousand  years  before  made  his  famous 
seven  years  voyage  to  the  land  opposite  conjectured  to  be  America, 
and  penetrated  its  interior,  till  water  flowed  west,  fondness  for  mara- 
time  adventure  found  opportunity,  not  only  all  round  the  island,  but 
on  distant  shores.  Mention  is  frequently  made  by  the  annalists  of 
bold  navigators,  who  issuing  out  from  the  deep  bays  of  the  western 

*  His  son  Dermod  married  Desmond's  daughter.  Many  other  of  his  children  by  Elena 
Barry  daughter  of  lord  Buttevant  influential ly  connected  retained  their  possessions  till  most 
of  them  were  taken  away  under  Cromwell  or  William  of  Orange.  His  daughter  mamed 
Nicholas  Brown  cousin  of  Lord  Bacon ;  his  descendants  the  earls  of  Kenmare,  have  been 
since  large  proprietors  in  Kerry.  Near  by  their  hereditary  abode  on  the  Lake  of  Killarney 
dwell  the  Herberts,  whose  ancestor  derived  large  possessions,  by  similar  devise  to  that  of 
the  last  earl  of  Thomond  in  1741  to  the  Wyndhams,  from  his  kinsman,  Charles  McCar- 
thy Mor,  representative  of  Clancarre,  being  the  g.  g.  g.  grandson  of  his  daughter  Ellen,  and 
who  died  in  1770. 

51 


402  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

coast,  like  vi-kings  for  conquest,  or  buccaneers  for  spoil,  often  on 
quests  of  more  legitimate  commerce,  wandered  over  tlie  seas.  At 
this  particular  epoch  Spaniards  from  their  harvest  fields  of  gold 
finding  convenient  refuge  from  tempest  or  hostile  cruisers  in  its 
havens,  carried  on  a  lucrative  trade  in  Mdiich  the  mariners  of  septs  on 
the  ocean  participated  in  their  own  vessels.  Elizabeth  regarded  this 
traffic  with  jealous  eye,  not  pleased  that  catholic  powers  should  gain 
any  such  hold  over  her  Irish  subjects,  and  eager  besides  to  divert  a 
portion  of  the  profits  into  her  treasury,  by  monopolising  this  com- 
merce for  English  bottoms.  Her  orders  proved  of  little  avail,  for  in 
that  wild  country  there  were  no  revenue  officers  or  coast  guard  to  en- 
force them,  and  the  four  pounds  on  each  tun  of  wine  she  requested 
when  at  last  granted  by  parliament  could  not  be  collected. 

Conor,  earl  of  Thomond,  speedily  recovered  from  his  defeat  at 
Spancill  Hill  in  1559  and  thecampaign  after  in  West  Connaught,  chas- 
ed the  O'Flahertys  into  the  Joyce  country.  Their  chief,  Morrogh  of 
the  battle  axes,  withdrew  beyond  his  reach,  and  for  many  years  after, 
from  amidst  the  twelve  peaks  of  Bennabulla,  lofty  and  inaccessible, 
made  what  war  opportunity  offered  against  O'Briens  and  all  who 
supported  English  rule  till  Desmond's  death  in  1583  led  to  his  sub- 
mission. Teigue  O'Brien,  son  of  Morrogh,  whilst  at  Limerick  a  few 
weeks  afterwards  was  arrested  and  sent  to  Dublin  at  the  instance  of 
the  earl,  but  effected  his  escape  to  wreak  his  resentment.  The  earl 
in  1562  invaded  O'Connor  Kerry  and  the  knight  of  Glynn  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Shannon.  Soon  after  his  uncle  Sir  Donald,  returned 
home  from  Ulster  with  his  brother  Teigue,*  who  with  Donogh,  son 
of  Morrogh,  his  brother-in-law,  pounced  upon  Conor  at  Ballymacre- 
gan,  in  the  barony  of  Inchiquin,  taking  much  spoil.  They  were 
opposed  at  first  with  success,  and  retreated  to  Scamhall,  but  there 
they  rallied  defeating  the  earl.  The  campaign  of  1563  at  first  re- 
sulted   in    Conor's  favor,  and  Ballyally,  where  dwelt  the  sons    of 

*  Founder  of  the  O'Briens  of  Ballycorick. 


TRANSFER     OF     EEIN.  403 

Morrogh,  and  Ballycar  had  been  demoKshed,  when  Sir  Donald 
and  his  brother  invaded  Clancuilcn,  near  Rosrae  the  favorite  abode 
of  the  earl,  and  after  their  maraud  made  good  their  escape  across  the 
Fergus  with  their  prey. 

Soon  reinforced  by  the  Clansheehy  and  Clansweeny  from  Des- 
mond, who  left  behind  them  when  they  went  fewer  cattle  than  they 
consumed  or  droAC  away,  they  reduced  the  carl  to  extremities,  who 
was  glad  to  compromise  "  for  peace  that  winter,"  and  as  amends  for 
depriving  his  uncle  Donald  of  the  chieftainship  five  years  before,  by 
bestowing  on  him  Corcomroe,  its  rents,  customary  services  and  church 
livings.  Thereafter  Donald,  too  prudent  to  hazard  his  possessions 
by  revolt,  continued  at  peace,  an  energetic  and  sagacious  ruler,  some- 
times punishing  with  severity  such  as  deserved  it.  Wlien  one  branch 
of  the  Dalgais  slew  their  kinsman  Mahon,  he  pursued  and  captured 
them  and  taking  them  in  fetters  to  Ross  near  the  places  of  their  atro- 
city, "that  their  anguish  might  be  the  more,"  according  to  the  an- 
nalists, hung  some  and  burnt  the  rest. 

Towards  the  close  of  1565,  the  queen  ordered  that  all  ckims  of 
Desmond  and  Ormond  should  be  submitted  to  chancery,  and  upon 
issue  joined,  to  commissioners  ;  disputed  lands  to  be  left  pending  the 
controversy  in  charge  of  indifferent  persons.  She  wrote  Sydney 
that  they  were  reconciled  and  about  to  go  home,  but  that  Des- 
mond must  be  detained  at  Dublin  till  his  dues  were  paid.  Cecil 
impressed  upon  the  deputy  in  May  that  he  must  be  favorable  to 
Ormond,  or  the  queen  would  not  suifer  the  suit  to  proceed.  When 
Warham  St.  Leger,  president  of  Munster,  met  Desmond  at  Loch 
Girr  and  imparted  to  him  what  the  queen  intended,  he  expressed  his 
indignation  and  Avrote  Sydney  that  he  had  received  great  wrong, 
that  he  desired  the  benefit  of  the  law  and  royal  orders,  and  should 
distrain  for  his  rents  if  withheld.  St.  Leger  in  consideration  of  his 
resolution  and  power  advised  ending  the  controversy,  but  Elizabeth 
recalling  the  president  as   too  partial  to  him,  urged  in   reply  that 


404  TRANSFER     OFERIN. 

Ormond  and  his  friends  should  be  encouraged  to  resist  him 
and  that  the  rebels  he  harbored  should  be  apprehended.  In  August 
she  wrote  from  Kenilvvorth  that  he  should  not  have  a  renewal  of  his 
lease  of  Oonagh,  but  that  it  should  be  given  to  Ormond. 

The  royal  temper  thus  perverted,  ten  thousand  pounds  lost  to  him  by 
her  injustice,  and  O'Neil  soliciting  his  aid,  disaifection  would  have 
had  its  excuse.  But  he  did  not  yield  to  his  resentment.  He  invad- 
ed the  territory  of  his  brother-in-law,  the  sixteenth  lord  of  Kerry,* 
but  soon  after  joined  the  general  hosting  with  him,  St.  Leger,  the 
white  knight,  Dunboyne  and  Corraghmore  against  the  O'Reillys. 
Whilst  on  this  service  the  Butlers  brothers  of  Ormond  and  the  sons  of 
Dunboyne,  depredated  his  territory.  Instead  of  punishing  them, 
orders  came  over  in  March  from  the  queen  to  commit  the  earl  to 
Dublin  castle,  and  place  his  brother  Sir  John  in  charge  of  Desmond. 
The  ostensible  ground  for  this  procedure  was  the  old  charge,  that  he 
had  harbored  traitors,  which  had  received  some  confirmation  from 
Cahir  O'Conor,  one  of  the  very  chiefs  of  OfFaly  he  had  befriended 
but  who  was  now  making  his  peace. 

Late  in  January,  1567,  the  deputy  proceeding  towards  the  south, 
found  Leix  peaceable  and  its  tillage  improving ;  the  Butler  domain 
in  Kilkenny  in  excellent  condition  and  increasing  in  wealth ;  that  of 
the  Fitzpatricks  "  in  indifferent  good  order,"  Florence  and  GeoiFry, 
younger  sons  of  its  lord,  "  evil  doers,"  and  engaged  in  depredations 
upon  their  neighbors  ;  Ely  well  ruled  by  William  O'Carrol,  who  wish- 
ed to  surrender  and  be  made  a  baron  ;  Ikerrin  of  the  O'Meaghers 
Avasted  ;  Tipperary  in  frightful  disorder  from  contentions  between 
Ormond  and  Dunboyne,  the  latter  of  whom  was  also  at  strife  with 
his  brother.  Sydney  determined  the  dispute  with  Ormond  in  his  favor, 
imprisoning  the  others  with  their  wi^es  who  had  stirred  up  the  tur- 

*  Thomas  son  of  the  tenth  lord  of  Leixnaw.  Tidings  of  his  unexpected  succession  to 
his  brother  and  nephews  liad  l)cen  brought  to  him  in  Italy  in  1540  by  his  fiiithful  nurse 
Joanna  Harmon,  when  his  kinsman  Gerald  after  him  in  the  line,  not  luiowing  he  was  alive, 
had  claimed  the  inheritance.  He  married  daughters  of  Desmond,  McCarthy  More,  and  Sir 
Donald  O'Brien.  His  daughter  Joan  was  first  Mife  of  Conor  third  earl  of  Thomond,  and 
bis  eldest  son,  nephew  of  Clancarre,  son-in-law  of  David  Roche  lord  Fermoy. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  405 

moil,  and  quieted  the  land  by  his  severities.  The  Butlers  were  law- 
less, and  Desmond,  little  disposed  ta  be  aggrieved  and  not  retaliate, 
had  raided  Killethan  to  collect  his  rents,  as  also  Oliver  Grace.  The 
brothers  of"  Ormond  are  described  as  "  wanting  both  in  justice  and 
judgment  and  stoutness  to"  execute,"  for  when  directed  to  bring  in  the 
O'Kennedys,  chiefs  of  Upper  Ormond,  the  region  between  the  But- 
lers and  the  Shannon  opposite  Thomond,  as  likewise  some  of  the 
Burkes,  the  deputy  had  to  go  himself  in  pursuit  of  them  and  bring 
them  to  submission. 

Clonmel,    Cashel  and   Fethard  were  greatly  depopulated,  tlie   in- 
habitants not  darino-  to   issue   from   their   pates.     After  reforminor 

o  o  o 

abuses,  regulating  their  governments  and  dispensing  stern  justice  to 
offenders,  Sydney  summoned  chief  and  freeholder  to  meet  him  at 
Waterford.  Warham  St.  Leger  had  maintained  order  there  whilst 
he  staid,  but  the  country  had  been  since  worried  by  the  Powers. 
Corraghmore  enjoined  to  aiTCst  the  chief  malefactors  produced  but 
two,  who  were  hung,  and  the  baron  for  his  remissness  sent  to  the 
castle.  From  Dungarvan  passing  on  to  Youghal  the  deputy  found 
it  in  evil  case.  Desmond  there  pled  his  OAvn  cause,  but  one  is  in- 
clined to  suspect  from  the  terrorism  of  Tudor  reigns  that  the  judg- 
ment against  him,  not  final  or  covering  all  the  points,  was  a  foregone 
conclusion,  and  not  from  any  folly  or  fault  of  his  own. 

When  this  decree  was  rendered  "  he  did  not  a  little  stir  and  fell  into 
some  disallowable  heats  and  passions,  but  was  taught  to  understand 
his  duty  to  your  majesty,  obedience  to  your  laws  and  reverence  for 
such  as  sate  by  your  authority."  Sydney  adds  that  from  that  time 
forward  he  showed  himself  wayward  and  unwilling  to  further  the 
weal  of  the  country  or  the  service  of  the  queen.  He  was  retained 
under  various  pretences  and  placed  under  guard.  Naturally  incensed 
at  this  treatment,  for  Cusack  the  chancellor  had  tAvice  decided  in  his 
favor,  he  strove  to  discourage  the  great  lords  of  Cork  from  coming 
in    to    the    deputy.        Barry,    Roche    and    Courcy,    Clancarre    and 


406  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

O'SulHvans,  Mac  Carthies,  Reagh  and  Muskerry,  nevertheless  ap- 
peared, complaining  of  his  exactions,  "with  open  mouths  and  held 
up  hands,  crying  for  justice,  and  that  it  might  please  the  queen  to 
cause  her  name  to  be  known  among  them  with  reverence  and  her 
laws  obeyed,  offering  to  submit  themselves,  life,  land  and  goods." 

Not  only  were  the  towns  decayed  and  dilapidated,  but  the  whole 
countr}^  from  Youghal  to  Limerick,  pleasanter  naturally  than  any  Syd- 
ney had  ever  seen,  was  wasted  and  desolate,  as  if  war  had  swept  over  it. 
Fire,  sword,  famine  and  incessant  extortions,  had  left  everywhere 
their  niark  ;  villages  burnt,  churches  in  ruins,  castles  and  towns  ; 
bones  and  sculls,  women  and  mothers  quick  with  child  ruthlessly 
murdered,  and  Desmond  sitting  at  meat  with  the  perpetrators  of 
these  atrocities.  Marriage  was  little  regarded,  perjury,  robbery  and 
murder  counted  allowable,  no  consciousness  of  sin  or  of  future  life  or 
grace  to  gain  it  if  any  there  had  been. 

As  they  advanced  further  into  Desmond,  the  earl  chafed  at  his 
detention,  threatening  he  would  not  put  down  his  idle  men  or  gallo- 
glasses,  nor  relinquish  coyne  and  livery,  but  would  keep  five  men  for 
every  one,  and  by  midsummer  have  a  thousand  afoot.  The  deputy 
had  ordered  him  to  produce  his  base  brother  Thomas  Ruagh  and  the 
white  knight,  and  at  Kilmallock  one  of  his  abodes,  in  presence  of  the 
chiefs  of  Cork  and  others  who  accompanied  their  march,  reproached 
him  with  calling  together  his  forces.  This  Desmond  excused  as  the 
only  mode  of  securing  their  presence.  His  countess,  daughter  of 
Dunboyne,  an  admirable  woman  and  wife,  recently  a  mother,  he 
natu;.'ally  wished  to  be  near.  Six  hundred  of  his  men  laying  west 
towards  Limerick  not  South  towards  Youghall,  where  his  wife  then 
was,  exciting  suspicion,  the  deputy  who  had' with  him  but  two  hun- 
dred men-at-arms,  charged  him  with  treasonable  designs,  and  threat- 
ened that  if  any  outrage  were  oifered  on  their  way  to  Limerick  he 
should  die.  Sydney  says  the  earl  fell  on  his  knees  and  confessed  his 
fault.     This  frequently  mentioned  of  Irish  chiefs  looks  much  like  a 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  407 

figure  of  speech.  It  seems  difficult  to  understand  that  the  proud 
earl  had  occasion  or  mood  for  any  such  humiliation,  or  Sydney  the 
bad  taste  to  require  it. 

Entrusting-  Cork,  Kerry  and  Limerick  to  Sir  John  the  earl's  bro- 
ther, the  deputy  dismissing  the  chiefs  and  lords  who  had  attended  his 
progress,  reached  Limerick  in  safety,  escorted  by  three  hundred  men 
who  came  out  to  meet  him.  That  city  had  been  despoiled  both  by 
Desmond  its  neighbor  on  the  south  and  from  over  the  river  by  Tho- 
mond,  whose  lack  of  judgment  and  insufficiency  to  rule  would  have 
tempted  the  deputy  to  remove  him  could  there  have  been  found  one 
loyal  or  reasonable  enough  to  take  his  place.  Gal  way  guarded  its 
gates  day  and  night  against  the  earl  of  Clanrickard,  whose  two  sons  by 
different  mothers,  both  ah ve,  contended  for  his  succession  and  arrested 
were  taken  to  Dublin.  The  earl,  whom  Sydney  pronounces  as  wise 
to  rule  and  obedient  to  law  but  under  control  of  his  wafe,  fretted  by 
his  unnatural  progeny,  worried  by  the  Oughter  branch  of  his  name 
in  Mayo  and  the  O'Flaherties,  "  notwithstanding  intentions  of  the  best 
found  himself  often  constrained  to  do  the  worst."  Galway  and 
Athenry  with  four  only  left  of  three  hundred  good  householders  suf- 
fered in  consequence.  His  own  baronies  in  the  south  of  Connaught 
were  Avell  tilled  and  manured,  and  though  Shane  had  not  long  before 
collected  of  him  tribute  by  violence  were  prospering.  Clanearre 
had^no  power  or  influence  to  govern,  and  Sydney  is  severe  on  all  the 
four  earls  of  Munster  except  Ormond,  though  entertaining  more 
favorable  impressions  of  the  chiefs  of  Muskerry  and  Carbery.  He 
recommended  presidencies  there  and  in  Connaught,  and  resolved  to 
send  Cusack,  whose  experience,  faithfulness  and  willingness  he  had 
cause  to  commend,  to  pacify  their  disputes,  deprecating  as  already 
mentioned  breeding  of  dissension  as  cowardly  and  bad  policy,  inas- 
much as  the  population,  not  one  fifth  of  what  it  should  be,  in  their 
distress  were  never  in  more  forwardness  to  reformation.  Hugh 
O'Donnel  and   Donogh    O'Conor    Sligo    at  Galway  renewed   their 


408  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

pledges  of  allegiance,  and  surrendered  their  lands,  the  latter  propos- 
ing to  visit  the  queen.  The  deputy  with  his  prisoners  Desmond  and 
the  sons  of  Clanrickard  returned  home  through  the  country  of  the 
O'Kelly  and  by  Athlone,  reaching  Dublin  on  the  sixteenth  of  April. 
His  second  visit  to  the  south  ten  years  later  had  sadder  stories  to  tell. 

Sydney  and  St.  Leger  were  alike  reproved  by  Elizabeth  for  ex- 
cusinjr  Gerald.  She  ordered  that  he  should  be  indicted  in  Ireland 
before  being  sent  over,  and  should  bring  but  six  attendants  in  his 
suite.  In  Augfust,  Fitzwilliam  with  the  master  of  the  I'olls  and 
justice  Fitzsimmons  passed  nineteen  days  at  Kilkenny  the  chief  abode 
of  Ormond,  hearing  the  causes  between  the  two  earls.  Sydney  went 
over  to  England  in  October,  Weston  now  chancellor  and  Fitzwil- 
liam taking  his  place  as  lord  justices.  Desmond  was  detained  in 
the  hope  of  securing  the  apprehension  of  his  brother.  The  efforts  to 
entrap  him  finally  succeeded.  Sir  John  had  been  left  by  Sydney 
in  charge  of  the  Desmond  palatinate  and  had  no  reason  to  suspect  any 
designs  upon  his  own  liberty.  But  upon  his  arrival  in  Dublin  on 
the  twelfth  of  December,  1568,  to  take  leave  of  his  brother,  he  was 
hurried  on  board  the  ship  and  they  were  carried  over  to  London, 
w^here  for  the  next  four  years  they  remained  prisoners.  Dunboyne, 
father-in-law  of  Gerald,  was  to  have  accompanied  him  to  England, 
but  had  died  in  May  in  the  castle  at  Dublin. 

Commissioners  appointed  for  Munster  summoned  its  great  chiefs 
to  the  council,  but  they  would  not  come  unless  the  countess  of  Des- 
mond came  too.  She  wrote  from  Kilmallock  in  January,  1568,  "  that 
the  country  was  in  such  disorder  that  few  could  trust,  father,  brother 
or  son.  Scarcely  abiding  two  days  in  one  place,  she  trudged  about 
day  and  night  for  safety,  and  the  people  were  so  worn  out  by  cess  she 
could  not  collect  their  dues  fol-  her  husband's  necessities."  Lacy  bishop 
of  Limerick  brought  her  to  Cork,  and  by  her  help  James  Fitzmaurice, 
to  whom  the  earl  had  confided  the  charge  of  Desmond,  and  Thomas 
Ruagh  again  contending  for  the  earldom,   were  apprehended,  but 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  409 

set  free.  Meanwhile  the  earl  examined  at  court  by  KnoUys,  Mildmay 
and  Gerrard,  admitted  he  had  taken  Kilfeacle  and  collected  rents  in 
Killethan,  but  pled  pardon  for  his  other  transgressions.  He  made  his 
respectful  submission,  expressing  his  willingness  that  the  queen  should 
deprive  him  of  portions  of  his  land  for  the  more  quiet  govern- 
ment of  the  rest,  and  gave  recognizance  in  twenty  thousand  pounds. 
He  was  still,  however,  detained  in  the  tower,  suffering  from 
cold  in  the  same  small  comfortless  apartment  with  his  brother. 
His  letters  home,  sometimes  as  many  as  nineteen  in  a  day,  were  in- 
tercepted and  perused  by  the  ministers,  Walsingham  having  a  special 
fondness  for  that  kind  of  reading.  Money  was  supplied  for  his  sub- 
sistence, but  in  prison  he  remained  until  the  countess  came  over  in 
1570,  when  they  were  placed  in  charge  of  Warham  St.  Leger, 
whose  house  at  London  or  castle  Leeds  in  Kent  then  became  their 
abode. 

James  Fitzmaurice  able  and  active  invaded  the  territory  of  the 
lord  of  Kerry,  and  ordered  to  desist,  repeated  his  maraud.  The 
inhabitants  took  refuge  at  Lixnaw  with  their  herds.  Intense  heat 
and  drought  rendered  the  river  brackish,  and  man  and  beast  suffered 
from  thirst  and  want  of  food.  Coming  up  with  a  much  more  nu- 
merous army  than  theirs,  James  posted  O'Connor  Kerry  with  the  Clan 
Sheehy  on  the  east  of  the  town,  marching  round,  himself,  to  gain  po- 
sition on  the  west.  Edmund  Mac  Sweeny  constable  of  Clanmaurice 
and  John  O'Mally,  with  fifty  men  on  a  visit,  were  there,  and  when 
the  baron  consulted  them  as  to  what  should  be  done,  replied,  that  "in 
their  situation  life  was  near  unto  death,  that  no  mercy  could  be  ex^ 
pected  from  the  foe,  and  as  he  wished  not  to  give  hostages,  he  must 
trust  to  fortune  and  take  for  his  portion  of  Ireland,  the  land  under 
the  feet  of  his  enemies  ;  that  he  should  first  attack  the  Clan  Sheehy* 

*  Two  septs  of  this  name  existed  in  Kerry  one  of  Iveragh  descendants  of  Core :  king  of 
Munster,  and  Conary  monarcli  of  Ireland;  tlie  otlier  originally  of  Corcaguiny  beyond  Tra- 
lee  and  later  in  one  or  more  patches  of  territory  fartUer  east  near  the  brehons,  Egans  and 
Clancy,  from  Eogan  Mor.  Like  the  Mac  Sweenys  they  were  professional  soldiers,  and  con- 
stantly at  this  period  engaged  in  fighting  where  any  was  going  on. 
52 


410  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

which  especially  deserved  their  resentment."  Following  the  advice 
thus  bravely  tendered,  the  lord  of  Lixnaw  marshalled  his  men  and  the 
Clan  Sweeny  in  the  van  marched  steadily  against  his  adversaries, 
who  welcomed  his  approach  assured  of  victory.  Both  sides  fought 
gallantly,  "  making  trial  of  the  temper  of  their  sharp  spears,  strength 
of  their  battle  axes,  keenness  of  their  swords  and  hardness  of  their 
helmets." 

The  struggle  proved  long  and  desperate,  but  the  fine  army  of  the 
Geraldines  was  at  length  worsted.  Three  hundred  fell,  and  among 
them  O'Connor  Kerry,  "the  mournful  loss  of  the  Clan  Rory,  the 
burning  brand  of  his  tribe  and  race ;  a  youth  upon  whom  devolved 
the  chieftainship  in  preference  to  his  seniors  ;  a  sustaining  prop  of 
the  learned,  distressed  and  the  professors  of  the  arts  ;  a  pillar  of 
support  in  war  against  his  neighbors  and  foreigners."  Edmund  Mac 
Sheehy,  chief  constable  of  the  Geraldines,  affluent  and  as  famous  for 
his  hospitality  as  for  his  dexterity,  also  fell,  and  O'Callaghan,  the 
sons  of  O'Dwyer  and  of  the  white  knight,  and  many  more  perished. 
The  defeated  Geraldines  speedily  rallied  from  their  discomfiture,  and 
in  October  captured  the  baron. 

The  next  year  brought  fresh  cause  for  agitation.  The  decision  in 
favor  of  Carew  enraged  wherever  it  menaced,  and  Clancarre,  But- 
lers aud  Fitzmaurice  were  quickly  in  arms.  Clancarre,  though  not 
of  much  force  of  character,  was  wise  enough  to  perceive  that  to 
wrest  away  the  telritory  of  his  race  and  trample  out  its  faith  was  the 
policy  of  the  queen  and  her  ministers.  By  uniting  all  the  catholic 
elements  of  resistance,  these  designs  might  be  frustrated.  Support- 
ed by  O'Sullivan  Mor  and  other  chiefs  of  the  Eoghanacht  he  renounced 
his  English  title  and  resumed  that  of  McCarthy  Mor,  at  the  same 
time  asserting  his  claim  to  be  king  of  Munster  as  his  ancestors  had 
been  for  many  generations.  Desmond  was  a  prisoner,  and  his  pow- 
er and  possessions  naightpassto  strangers,  and  unless  the  opportunity 
oflfered  were  improved,  qo  pther  equally  propitious  might  recur. 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  411 

With  O'Donoghues,  Keefes,  INIacavvleys,  the  son  of  O'Sullivan 
Mor  and  Edmund  Mac  Sweeney,  he  spoiled  Fermoy  and  Muskerry ; 
Edward  Butler,  brother  of  Orniond,  whose  castle  of  Killogrenan 
had  been  seized  by  Carew,  Ely  with  eight  hundred  men.  Thomas 
Ruagh  joined  Fitzmaurice,  and  the  country  completely  disorgan- 
ized "no  Geraldine  was  quiet  or  Butler  content."  Unable  to 
reduce  Kilkenny  where  Carew  commanded  in  force,  they  harried 
above  and  below  from  Dublin  to  Waterford,  and  stripped,  with  the 
inhumanity  usual  on  both  sides,  the  fair  of  Enniscorthy  of  its  horses 
and  herds,  gold,  silver  and  foreign  wares  and  of  whatever  else  it  had 
that  was  precious. 

At  a  conference  of  all  the  principal  leaders  of  Munster  except 
Decies,  Roche,  and  Barry  more,  Maurice  Reagh  Fitzgibbon,  titular 
archbishop  of  Cashel  and  the  bishop  of  Ross  were  sent  into  Spain 
to  request  aid  of  Philip  II.,  which  was  promised  at  Easter.*  As 
two  hundred  Spanish  vessels  every  year  came  to  fish  off  the  shore, 
rumors  were  rife  that  forty  with  guns  had  arrived*  Citizens  of  Wa- 
terford opened  their  gates  to  relieve  eleven  hundred  people  in  seeming 
distress,  who  breaking  in  tore  down  their  houses  arid  committed  great 
havoc.  Kerricm-riliy  given  up  in  part  to  St.  Leger  was  spoiled,  the 
abbey  of  Tracton  beset  by  half  as  many  reduced  j  and  its  warders  slain, 
Cork  besieged  by  James  with  four  thousand  men.  Pollard  sent 
with  Peryam  to  keep  order  was  crippled  with  the  gout  and  could  not 
go,  and  though  Desmond  and  Sir  John  begged  Fitzmaurice  and 
Thomas  Ruagh  to  be  still,  Sydney  wrote  in  June  that  rebellion  raged 
all  over  the  realm  but  within  the  pale. 

■  By  her  prerogative  the  queen  could  do  no  wrong.  Yet  by  setting 
aside  the  judgment  of  the  commissioners  as  to  the  baronies  out  of 
partiality  for   Ormond,  coercing  her  prisoner  in  the  tower,  to  give 

*  McGrath  was  at  that  time  archbishop  of  Cashel,  but  suspected  of  disaffection  was  trans- 
lated to  Down.  Loftus  wished  to  exchange  Dublin  for  an  English  bishoprick.  Bodkin  of 
Tuam  was  loyal.  The  catholic  primate  of  Armagh  a  prisoner  in  London  was  accused  by 
the  daughter  of  his  jailer,  but  confronted  with  his  accuser  she  retracted.  Dixon  of  Cork 
did  penance  in  the  cathedral  of  Dublin,  and  was  deposed  on  a  similar  charge. 


412  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

St.  Leger  Carrigolene  in  Kerricurrihy  to  alienate  James  Fitz- 
maurice,  and  helping  Carew  to  Idrone  and  in  his  claim  to  half  Cork, 
Munster  had  been  overwhelmed  with  calamity,  and  there  was  hardly  a 
faithful  soul  left  within  its  borders  who  did  not  detest  her.  They 
were  obliged  to  be  wary  or  the  heads  of  her  pledges  in  the  tower, 
the  earl  and  his  brother,  would  have  dropped  prematurely  from  their 
shoulders. 

With  a  quarrel  so  reasonable  and  disaffection  wide  spread,  could 
the  chiefs  have  forgotten  their  quarrels,  abstained  from  fresh  provo- 
cation, been  all  of  one  mind,  they  could  have  discouraged  Carew  in 
his  Munster  pretensions,  enjoyed  their  religious  liberties  undisturbed. 
But  feuds  and  jealousies  estranged  many  of  their  leaders.  Fineen 
of  Carbery,  "  who  had  not  placed  his  affections  on  this  world  or 
knew  how  much  he  had  laid  up,"  had  been  succeeded  in  1568  by  his 
brother  Donogh,  and  neither  that  chief  nor  Dermod  of  Mu skerry, 
lately  knighted  by  Sydney,  loved  their  brother-in-law  James  Fitz- 
maurice.  Sir  Owen  of  Beare  and  Bantry  opposed  the  movement, 
as  did  his  neighbor  O'Driscol,  lord  of  Baltimore,  who  had  lately 
surrendered.  Fitzmaurice  as  a  Geraldine  and  also  from  his  over- 
bearing temper,  was  not  as  popular  then  as  later,  and  many  whose 
titles  were  menaced  or  whose  attachment  to  the  ancient  church  was 
unabated,  grew  timid  or  lukewarm.  Fermoy,  the  lord  of  Decies 
and  the  Barrys  were  loyal  to  the  queen,  as  also  Thomas  brother  of 
Gerald  and  John  uncle  to  James  Fitzmaurice.  Thus  dissensions, 
ever  Ireland's  weakness,  palsied  all  attempt  at  combination,  and  they 
found  themselves  borne  along  to  destruction  by  events  beyond  their 
control. 

Sydney  joined  by  Ormonde  sent  over  by  the  queen  to  detach  his 
three  brothers  from  the  league,  marched  with  considerable  force  into 
Munster.  Ormond  after  accomplishing  his  object,  his  brothers  Ed_ 
mund,  Edward  and  Pierce  submitting  without  hesitation,  probably 
upon  promise  of  pardon,  though  this  was  not  at  once  granted,  crossed 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  413 

the  Suir,  and  by  Coshlea  passed  on  to  Louglilene.  He  demolished 
a  strong  castle  of  O'Sullivan  Mor  on  an  eminence  at  the  mouth  of 
the  gap  of  Dunloh,  doing  much  havoc.  Opposition  not  strong 
enough  to  contend  melting  away,  and  the  chiefs  generally  professing 
loyalty,  the  lord  deputy  placed  a  garrison  under  Humphrey  Gilbert 
at  Kilmallock,  and  himself  repaired  to  Athlone.  After  establishing 
Fitton  as  president  of  Connaught  including  Clare,  he  thence  proceeded 
toward  Ulster,  as  Turlough  O'Neil  about  to  join  the  movement  at  the 
south  was  accidentally  wounded  as  it  Mas  said  by  a  jester  at  his  table. 
During  the  winter  of  1570  James  Fitzmaurice  spoiled  Kilmallock, 
and  the  following  year  in  February  with  Mac  Sweenys  and  the  Clan 
Sheehy  took  and  utterly  destroyed  the  place,  removing  its  treasures 
which  belonged  to  Desmond.  They  are  represented  to  have  been  of 
priceless  worth,  that  being  his  favorite  abode  though  Tralee  was  the 
seat  of  his  government. 

Fitton  proved  a  tyrant,  and  his  arbitrary  proceedings  and  over- 
bearing insolence  disaffected  even  the  loyalty  of  Conor  O'Brien  who 
captured  his  uncle  Sir  Donal  on  his  way  from  Corcumroe  to  the 
presidential  court  at  Ennis.  Ormond  called  in  to  appease  the  exas- 
perated governor  persuaded  the  earl  to  surrender  as  amends  Clonroad, 
Clare  and  Bunratty  ;  but  indignant  at  thus  being  dispossessed  of  liis 
castles  and  his  power,  Conor  gathered  his  fiiends  and  adherents  at 
his  remaining  fortress  of  Aloy  in  Ibrackan.  They  were  not  many  to 
come,  for  by  accepting  the  earldom  he  had  forfeited  their  support 
and  brought  these  misfortunes  on  himself  and  the  Dalgais.  Dis- 
couraged, and  sensible  he  had  nothing  to  expect  from  English 
clemency,  he  escaped  into  France.  Whilst  at  that  court  gaining  the 
friendship  of  Norreys,  the  English  minister,  and  proving  to  him  that 
he  had  been  greatly  aggrieved  by  the  president,  through  his  good 
offices  his  peace  was  made  and  he  was  allowed  to  return. 

Richard  earl  of  Clanrickard  and  Fitton  at  midsummer,  1570,  laid 
siege  to  Shrule,  a  castle  on  the  borders  of  Gal  way  and  Mayo,  with 


4u 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN 


an  firmy  Composed  of  all  the  fighting  men  of  Upper  Connaught,  of 
Macdonnels,  Mac  Sweeneys  and  Clan  Dugald,  and  three  hundred 
cavalry  in  mail.  John  Burke,  Chieftain  of  Mayo,  gathered  his 
clans  to  oppose  them,  and  among  them  came  from  Benabulla  Morrogh 
O'Flaherty  of  the  battle  axes  and  some  Scots.  Deciding  to  fight 
upon  foot,  they  formed  their  array,  agreeiiig  hot  to  depart  therefrom 
or  stop  to  succor  whoever  might  fall.  Fitton  and  the  earl  occupied 
defiles  of  great  strength,  theit-  artillery  and  halberdiers  with  the 
clans  posted  in  the  line  of  advance,  the  cavalry  held  in  reserve; 
Mac  William  marched  on,  and  though  taken  in  flank  his  army  kept 
their  ranks  and  routed  and  drove  the  enemy,  though  reinforced  or 
Replaced  by  fresh  troops,  two  miles,  and  returned  home  in  triumph; 
It  was  a  mistake  not  to  follow  up  their  success,  for  the  fugitives  ral- 
lied on  their  reserves,  regained  the  field,  and  that  night  occupying  the 
camp  also  claimed  the  victory. 

The  representatives  of  the  old  kings  of  Connaught,  shorri  of  their 
ancient  splendor  and  by  family  feuds  and  division  of  territory  reduc- 
ed in  power  and  consequence,  still  existed,  though  history  had  found 
little  occasion  to  mention  them  for  some  generations.  Fitton  turned 
O'Connor  Don  out  of  Balintober  his  principal  abode,  and  on  the 
pretext  that  with  O'Connor  Roe  and  Mac  Dermot  he  had  committed 
hostilities  against  the  O'Kellys,  they  Were  summoned  to  appear  at 
the  presidential  court  to  be  held  in  1572  at  Galway.  Fitton  Wrote 
the  council  that  by  the  coming  Easter  term  the  queen  would  be  en- 
titled to  half  Connaught. 

This  court  the  Dalgais  and  both  Burkes  attended.  But  Ulick  and 
John,  sons  of  Clanrickard,  alarmed  at  what  might  be  designed,  went 
angry  away.  Thereupon  the  president  carried  their  father  prisoner 
to  Dublin,  and  returning  when  they  gathered  in  force,  demolished  a 
castle  of  O'Flaherty's.  Burkes  oughter  and  eighter,  for  once  in  amity 
destroyed  castle  and  town  from  Burrento  the  Shannon,  pillaging  all 
friends  of  English  rule.     Passing  into  Westmeath  they  burnt  Mullin- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  415 

gar  and  Athlone  out  fl^om  the  bridge,  seriously  damaged  Atlienry  and 
raided  West  Connaught,  all  summer  engaged  in  the  like  depreda- 
tions. James  Fitzmaurice  took  part,  seeking  their  help  and  the  Scots 
to  reduce  Castlemagne,  which  Perrot  president  of  Munster  after  siege 
the  previous  year  ineffectually  and  for  three  months  this,  finally  re- 
duced not  for  want  of  defence  but  of  food. 

For  twenty  years  presidential  governments  in  the  several  provin- 
ces had  been  recommended  as  the  sovereign  remedy  against  Irish 
independence.  The  experiment  was  on  trial  also  in  Munster.  It  had 
been  proposed  for  Ulster,  but  with  few  Englishmen  to  sustain  it 
recognized  there  as  impracticable,  and  in  Connaught  simply  served  to 
render  English  rule  still  more  unpalatable.  Fitton  in  October,  1571, 
prayed  to  be  relieved  of  an  office,  "the  duties  of  which  were  merely 
to  have  to  speak  the  queen's  enemies  fair,  to  give  his  friends  leave  to 
bribe  the  rebels  for  their  own  safety,  and  to  see  the  people  spoiled 
before  his  face."  The  project  in  Munster  had  been  thus  far  attended 
with  no  better  result.  Upon  a  plan  well  considered  and  adopted 
ostensibly  to  check  the  outrageous  oppressions  there  prevailing,  Sir 
Warham  St.  Leger  had  been^appointed  in  February,  1566,  president, 
with  a  council  to  consist  of  the  four  earls,  archbishop  of  Cashel, 
Robert  Cusack  and  Nicholas  White,  with  Owen  Moore  as  clerk  of 
the  signet ;  the  three  last  to  give  their  continued  attendance  to  its 
administration. 

The  president  was  not  to  quit  his  province  for  more  than  four  days, 
to  report  monthly  and  with  one  of  the  council  to  hear  all  manner  of 
complaints,  real,  personal  and  mixed,  civil  and  criminal,  and  any 
eastle  kept  with  force  against  him  to  overthrow.  He  was  authorized 
to  punish  for  contempt,  and  all  malefactors  at  his  discretion  if  not 
repugnant  to  law.  With  the  council  he  had  power  to  examine  by 
torture  and  stay  judgment,  and  was  instructed  to  persuade  all  persons 
to  conform  to  the  established  religion,  and  cause  parish  churches  to  be 
repaured.     They  were  to  appoint  attorneys  and  fix  their  fees,  and  if 


416  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

needed  authorized  to  apply  fines  to  their  own  ■subsistence,  to  repair 
castles  or  build  gaols.  It  was  enjoined  upon  them  to  secure  rents 
from  crown  lands  especially  from  dissolved  abbies  to  better  the  royal 
revenues,  and  seven  hundred  pounds  annually  was  allowed  for  the 
presidential  table.  Warham  St.  Leger,  first  appointed  president  of 
Munster,  soon  afterwards  received  his  recall.  Sir  John  Pollard  not 
able  to  serve  was  discharged  in  April,  1570.  Peryam  joined  in  the 
commission  proved  of  little  account.  The  troubled  state  of  the 
province  demanded  no  ordinary  ruler,  and  few  fit  for  the  task  cared 
to  accept  an  office  of  such  responsibility,  arduous  service  and  inade- 
quate recompense.      Such  the  queen  found  in  her  illegitimate  brother. 

In  February,  1571,  Sir  John  Perrot  natural  son  of  Henry  VIII., 
a  man  of  great  physical  power  and  strength  of  purpose,  was  created 
president  of  Munster,  and  set  himself  to  work  to  hunt  Fitzmaurice 
out  of  his  hole.  It  was  not  an  easy  task,  for  he  was  frequently  cajoled 
and  discomfited,  and  his  account  of  his  adventures  reads  very  much 
like  the  dance  Puck  led  the  lovers  in  the  play. 

Reaching  Waterford  as  James  was  burning  Kilmallock,  he  was 
detained  at  the  capital  for  many  weeks,  but  visited  its  ruins  on  the 
first  of  May  as  he  passed  on  to  Limerick.  James  in  his  woody  fast- 
nesses of  Aherlow  at  the  northern  base  of  the  Galtee  mountains, 
held  him  at  advantage,  and  though  the  president  marched  by  night 
and  by  day  through  bog  and  through  thicket,  sleeping  on  the  cold 
grass  as  a  common  soldier,  and  enjoying  no  rest  from  the  constant 
and  rapid  movements  of  his  adversary,  his  quarry  baffled  pursuit  by 
intelligence  received  from  his  own  camp.  He  at  last  settled  down  to 
the  siege  of  Castlemagne,  a  strong  fortress  of  Desmond's  near  the 
head  of  the  bay  of  Dingle  and  the  boundary  of  Clancarre ;  but 
when  the  summer  closed  he  went  away  without  having  made  any 
impression  upon  its  walls. 

In  November  he  was  badly  defeated  by  Fitzmaurice,  who  perhaps 
as  a  blind  to  his  designs  challenged  him  to  combat,  singly  or  with 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  417 

fifty  or  half  that  nuiuber  on  a  side.  Perrot  accepted  the  challenge 
and  made  due  preparation,  but  at  the  same  time  wrote  Ormond  to 
despatch  his  brother  Edward  with  all  the  force  he  could  muster.  It 
is  not  stated  that  for  this  Fitzmaurice  failed  to  appear  at  the  time  and 
place  appointed,  which  was  Enily  near  Kilmallock,  but  if  the  case, 
it  was  reason  enough.  In  June,  1572,  the  president  again  set  to 
work  to  reduce  Castlemagne,  but  though  provided  with  artillery  for  a 
long  time,  without  result.  James  in  order  to  make  a  diversion  and 
victual  tlie  place  went  into  Connaught  to  the  Burkes,  taking  part 
in  their  marauds,  in  the  hope  of  inducing  them  to -aid  in  relieving 
the  besieged  fortress.  For  this  Fitton  kept  them  too  busily  employed. 
Still  when  their  devastations  were  over  and  their  troops  disbanded  in 
the  autumn,  some  of  their  Scotch  auxiliaries  joined  him  and  crossed 
with  liim  the  Shannon.  Perrot  Avith  Clancarre,  McDonoffh,  Mus- 
kerry  and  Carbery,  Roche,  Barry,  Decies,  Lixnaw,  Poer,  Sir  Thomas 
of  Desmond  and  Tibbot  Butler  attacked  him  at  Killooge  in  Coonagh, 
killing  a  few  of  his  men.  Castlemagne  was  not  relieved,  and 
from  want  of  provisions,  after  a  siege  of  four  months,  forced  to 
capitulate. 

James,  no  longer  able  to  keep  the  field,  lurked  with  his  scanty 
followers  in  the  recesses  of  the  forest,  generally  defeating  all  efforts 
of  the  English  to  learn  his  whereabouts,  whilst  he  inflicted,  as  oppor- 
tunity offered,  what  mischief  he  could  upon  them.  "  It  is  impossible," 
say  the  annalists,  "to  relate  all  that  James  encountered  of  perils  and 
great  dangers,  from  want  of  food  and  sleep."  At  the  end  of  October 
the  garrison  of  Kilmallock,  which  had  been  partially  rebuilt,  surprised 
his  men  at  night  in  their  cabins  and  tents,  slaying  thirty  of  them 
and  carrying  off  horses  and  kine,  weapons  and  apparel,  but  James 
not  in  force  to  contend  made  good  his  escape.  Disheartened  and 
prompted  by  the  wish  to  expedite  the  return  of  Desmond,  he  conclu- 
ded to  seek  peace,  and  two  years  from  the  burning  of  Kilmallock, 

on  the  twenty-first  of  February,   1573,  the  Seneschal  of  Imokilly 
53 


418  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

and  Owen  Burke  appeared  at  the  gates  of  Castletown  Roche,  where 
Perrot  then  was,  to  make  terms. 

Perrot  proceeded  forthwith  to  Kihnallock  near  by,  and  in  its  church 
epared  from  the  conflagration,  Fitzraaurice  and  his  followers  on 
their  knees  acknowledged  their  fault  and  made  submission.  The 
phrases  read  by  him,  for  himself  and  them,  dictated  by  the  president, 
if  not  purely  formal,  were  shaped  to  please  the  queen,  whose  Tudor 
love  of  domineering  delighted  in  such  humiliation.  For  a  brief  pe- 
riod strife  ended.  During  its  continuance,  correspondence  from 
France  and  Spain  had  come  freighted  with  promises  of  aid  to  be  dis- 
appointed, one  of  six  thousand  Spaniards.  Had  they  come,  so 
general  was  the  disaffection  and  the  English  force  so  reduced  by  royal 
parsimony,  Sydney  wrote,  the  island  would  have  been  lost  to  the  realm, 
like  Calais.  Sir  John  Fitzgerald  now  set  free,  resumed  in  May  the 
command  of  Desmond,  which  he  had  quitted  four  years  before,  when 
inveigled  to  Dublin  to  take  leave  of  his  brother,  he  was  carried  off 
with  him  captive  to  London.  Perrot,  elated  by  his  success  in  accom- 
plishing his  task,  indulged  in  some  arbitrary  proceedings,  among 
others,  suggestive  of  the  ancient  adage,  compelling  all  Munster  men 
within  his  reach  to  trim  their  g-libbes  or  long-  locks.  He  went  home 
in  the  autumn  to  return  later,  and  Sir  William  Drury  after  an  inter- 
val of  two  years  succeeded  to  the  presidency  of  Munster. 

The  queen  and  her  ministers  had  either  become  convinced  of  their 
injustice  in  detaining  Desmond  and  his  brother  in  captivity  without 
sufficient  cause,  or  else  of  its  impolicy.  They  wisely  concluded  it 
easier  and  more  economical  to  bring  back  Munster  to  order  and 
tranquillity  under  their  rule,  than  that  of  their  more  energetic  kins- 
man. Their  detention  caused  expense;  reimbursement  depended 
upon  the  earl's  restoration  to  his  estates,  and  in  December  they  were 
sent  over  not  to  their  own  homes  but  to  Dublin. 

The  promises  the  queen  would  have  exacted  from  her  prisoner  in- 
dicate what  she  res-arded  as  abuses  to  be  reformed.     He  was  to  allow 


1* 

TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  419 

no  galloglasses  bonaght,  beg  or  bowe,  permit  neither  coin  and  liv- 
ery nor  cuddy  or  kernety,  nor  use  guns  of  greater  calibre  than  that 
prescribed.  He  was  to  hold  no  parliaments  on  hills,  or  dispense 
brehon  or  cane  law,  levy  black  rents,  cricks  or  other  rccompence  for 
murder  or  practice  comerick  ;  but  was  to  submit  a  book  of  his  men, 
and  cause  his  people  to  know  God  and  swear  only  by  him.  The 
earl  positively  refused  to  relinquish  his  Irish  customs  or  yield  up  the 
liberties  of  his  palatinate  ;  but  finally,  in  order  to  regain  his  freedom, 
made  many  concessions.  His  brother,  less  firm  or  more  politic,  and 
with  little  to  surrender,  accommodated  himself  to  the  situation  and 
without  demur  accepted  the  conditions. 

John  was  released  as  above  mentioned  in  May,  1573.  Gerald  was 
detained  some  months  louder  at  Dublin.  Havino-  occasion  to  believe 
his  life  endangered,  in  November,  when  hunting  and  well  mounted  he 
distanced  his  companions,  and  taking  to  his  feet  with  some  few  of  his 
personal  attendants,  after  three  days  reached  the  centre  of  his  own 
dominions. 

Gerald  again  at  home,  indignant  at  the  treatment  to  which  he  had 
been  subjected  and  absolved  from  his  allegiance  by  the  capricious 
tyranny  of  the  queen,  yet  aAvare  of  his  inability  to  resist,  should  she 
choose  to  crush,  felt  compelled  to  dissemble.  Her  garrisons  held  his' 
castles.  His  lieges  withheld  rent  and  tribute,  rarely  yielded  but  to 
superior  force.  His  territory  lay  waste  from  recent  strife.  To 
supply  his  needs  in  captivity,  he  had  borrowed  money  on  mortgage  of 
Kerricurrihy  from  St.  Leger,  who  selected  his  security  probably  to 
create  enmity  between  the  earl  and  his  kinsman.  As  reparation  other 
lands  were  substituted  to  hold  till  the  debt  was  paid.  His  first  object 
to  regain  possession  of  his  strongholds,  Gerald  drove  out  their  warders, 
and  his  people  seized  upon  Castlemagne,  which  much  to  his  displea- 
sure had  been  victualled  by  Lixnaw  and  Clancarre.  The  territory 
of  the  latter  he  claimed  to  be  within  the  limits  of  his  palatinate  and  he 
had  other  cause  of  2:rievance  a2:ainst  him.  ^ 


420  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Clancarre,  not  content  to  occupy  any  position  subordinate  to  one  so 
imperious  as  James  Fitzmaurice,  and  considering  himself  entitled  to 
supremacy  in  Munster,  when  he  found  the  Eoghanacht  would  not 
support  his  pretentions  or  take  part  in  the  struggle  to  maintain  their 
independence,  saw  the  inutility  of  prolonging  hostilities.  He  made 
peace,  and  in  1571,  in  the  cathedral  of  Dublin,  renewing  his  pledges 
of  fealty  had  received  his  pardon.  This  defection  and  the  example 
it  set  to  his  neighbors  crippled  Fitzmaurice,  and  materially  contri- 
buted to  his  overthrow.  It  provoked  the  resentment  of  Gerald,  who 
collected  a  force,  defeated  Clancarre  for  withstanding  his  pretension 
to  sovereignty,  Mac  Fineen  of  Kerry,  Maurice  and  Owen  Mac 
Sweeny  the  bravest  among  his  captains  and  many  more  being  slain. 

Disappointed  of  his  reasonable  expectation  of  strengthening  his 
position  south  of  the  Shannon,  Gerald  entered  into  league  with  the 
O'Briens  of  Thomond  and  Clanrickard.  A  conference  took  place 
between  them  at  Killaloe  near  Kincora,  audit  was  rumored  that  they 
had  despatched  messengers  to  Turlogh  O'Neil,  O'Moores  and  O'Con- 
nors to  gather  in  strength,  and  made  earnest  appeal  to  Spain  and  the 
Scots  for  assistance.  Their  efforts  to  conceal  their  proceedings  led 
to  suspicion,  and  their  movements  were  watched  and  reported. 
Probably  measures  actually  concerted  were  greatly  exaggerated  by 
designing  men  with  an  object,  possibly  from  no  dishonest  motive, 
misrepresented.  They  seem  hardly  consistent  with  what  is  known 
either  of  Thomond  or  Clanrickard.  But  that  the  government  was 
ready  enough  to  believe  them  admits  of  no  doubt.  Whatever  their 
truth,  Desmond  still  kept  up  the  show  and  tone  of  loyalty  aggrieved, 
and  in  Jariuary,  1574,  wrote  the  deputy  from  Dingle,  that  he  would 
meet  at  Clonmel  Edward  Fitzgerald,  sent  to  confer  with  him. 
Charges,  seven  in  number,  were  preferred  against  him,  to  which  he 
proudly  responded,  at  the  same  time  assuring  Burleigh  of  his  con- 
tinued attachment  to  the  queen.  He  urged  redress  and  reparation 
for  the  wn-ongs  he  had  sustained,  and  restoration  of  such  of  his  castles 
as  were  still  withheld. 


TRANSFEK     OF     ERIN.  421 

For  ans\Yer  came  peremptory  orders  to  surrender  all  liis  castles  to 
Sir  George  Boiirchicr,  sent  to  receive  them,  whom  he  took  and 
kept  in  durance  till  his  kinsman  Essex  besought  his  release.  The 
queen  instructed  the  deputy  to  temiiorize  with  Turlogh  O'Xeil  till 
Desmond  and  Clanrickard  were  disposed  of.  In  April  news  of 
Spanish  preparation  encouraging  hostilities,  Gerald  gathered  at  Cahir 
three  out  of  twenty  thousand  he  had  promised,  thence  to  march  to 
Tara.  Proclamation  issued  against  him  which  neither  Gormanstown 
nor  Delvin  Avould  sign.  The  government  intimidated  resorted  to 
corruption,  and  to  detach  Sir  John  from  Gerald,  promised  him  a  part 
of  his  brother's  lands.  Ormond  and  Fitzwilliam  the  deputy  took 
Derrilair.  Their  show  of  power  disheartened  his  adherents  and  allies, 
and  Gerald  weakenedby  their  desertion,  was  disposed  to  make  terms. 
In  July,  Essex  and  Kildare  at  an  interview  with  him  and  his  countess 
at  Waterford,  persuaded  him  to  keep  the  peace,  give  up  his  castles 
to  which  he  finally  consented,  and  accompany  them  under  their  safe- 
guard to  Dublin,  from  whence  he  prudently  soon  after  took  his 
departure.  His  countess  wrote  the  queen  in  September  that  her 
husband  had  become  reconciled.  The  Spaniards  had  not  come  as 
promised,  and  hostilities  without  them  of  no  advantage,  his  only  al- 
ternative was  to  submit. 

Conor  restored  to  grace,  and  the  president  removed  to  become 
treasurer  at  war,  feuds  broke  out  among  the  Dalcasians  for  causes 
not  explained.  Torlogh,  brother  of  the  earl,  with  Mac  Sweeny s, 
Butlers  and  Geraldines  marched  from  the  Fergus  by  Inchiquin  and 
Corcomroe,  marauding  as  they  went,  and  plundering  the  church  at 
Kilnaboy  which  proved  of  ill  omen  to  them.  Their  slumbers  at  night 
were  disturbed  by  the  lamentations  of  those  they  despoiled.  Donald 
collected  the  clans  Sheehy  and  Sweeny  and  what  forces  he  could, 
Ulick  Burke  and  the  son  of  earl  Morogh  among  the  rest,  and  to 
quicken  their  courage  exhorted  them  to  remember  what  old  men  and 
historians  had  taught,  "  that  not  by  multitudes  was  victory  won  or 


422  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN". 

the  issue  of  war  to  be  foreseen.  The  invaders  consisted  of  a  medley 
of  men  with  no  object  but  booty,  and  to  whom  maintaining  their 
ground  or  flying  to  save  their  lives  was  the  same."  On  tlie  morrow 
tlie  two  armies  early  astir  marched  on  parallel  lines  to  Knocachif, 
where  the  earl's  army  drew  up  in  a  strong  position  on  the  hill,  but 
upon  Donald's  approach  took  to  flight,  the  cavalry  westwai'd  by  the 
sea,  the  infantry  southeast.  "INIany  were  slain,  beasts  and  birds  of 
prey  feasting  on  their  carcasses."  Upper  Thomond  long  reaped  the 
benefit  of  this  harvest  of  death,  armor  and  ordnance,  horses  and 
lierds  and  prisoners  in  great  number  falling  as  spoil  to  the  victors. 
Strife  led  to  strife,  and  in  1575  Conor  and  his  brother  raided  Moyburk 
and  Clonderalaw,  burning  houses,  cattle  and  corn.  Sydney  interpos- 
ed, and  after  hearing  both  sides,  appointed  Sir  Donald  governor  of  Clare 
with  full  powers,  which  he  exercised  with  rigor,  "  hanging  rebels  and 
plunderers,  so  that  cattle  needed  no  watch,  no  door  to  be  closed." 

The  next  year  passed  without  event  in  Munster.  In  the  spring 
Fitzmaurice  and  Edward  Fitzgibbon  went  over  with  their  families 
to  the  continent  and  were  kindly  received,  Henry  III.  of  France 
writing  the  queen  to  deal  graciously  with  the  former.  From  his 
abode  at  St.  Malo  he  watched  events  at  home  and  abroad,  turning 
to  account  whatever  promised  for  his  country  restoration  of  its 
ancient  faith,  or  escape  from  the  injustice  of  English  rule. 

In  September,  1575,  Sydney  for  the  third  time  lord  deputy,  and  for 
the  seventh  head  of  Irish  administration,  receiving  the  sword  at  Drogh- 
eda,  proceeded  to  adjust  the  disputes  of  Ulster.  He  then  visited  in 
turn  the  several  provinces,  reporting  to  the  cj[ueen  their  condition. 
Newry  held  by  Sir  Nicholas  Bagnallthe  Marshal,  he  commended  for 
the  beauty  of  its  buildings  and  its  excellent  tillage,  lord  and  tenant  be- 
ing prosperous  and  hospitable.  The  Fews  of  Phelim  O'Neil  and  Oriel 
given  by  the  queen  to  Chatterton  were  wasted  by  efforts  to  reduce  them 
to  possession.  Maguire  was  dutiful.  Beyond,  land  given  to  Malbie 
he  reported  devastated  and  almost  depopulated,  none  but  outlaws  of 


TKANSFEK     OF     ERIN.  423 

either  race  daring  to  dwell  there,  Clanaboy  uninhabited  from  the  efforts 
of  Essex  to  civilize  it,  Carrickfcrgus  uninterruptedly  for  centuries  in 
English  possession  a  Avreck.  With  Sorleboy  lord  of  the  Glynnes 
and  Koute  he  made  a  treaty  of  amity,  and  at  Armagh  entertained  the 
wife  of  Turlogh,  whom  he  describes  as  "  very  well  spoken,  of  great 
modesty,  good  nurture,  parentage  and  disposition,  eager  to  have  her 
husband  ennobled  and  a  good  subject."  Turlogh  joined  them  re- 
questing rule  over  his  vu-raghs  and  passed  two  days  in  his  company. 

Louth  he  found  impoverished  and  scourged  by  the  plague,  JNIeath 
by  Molloys  and  Conors  ;  east  Breffney,  the  best  ruled  country  in  Ire- 
land under  its  ancient  chief,  O'Reilly,  ''the  justest  of  Irishmen;" 
Kildare,  Carlow  and  Wexford  overrun  with  outlaws  ;  Moores  and 
Cavanaghs  carrying  their  spoils  into  Kilkenny,  receptacle  of  innumer- 
able cattle  and  stolen  goods,  but  undone  by  its  own  idlemen.  Eory 
O'Moore  under  safeguard  of  Ormond  came  in,  promising  "  to  live  in 
better  sort  and  worse  he  could  not."  Tiie  deputy  thence  proceed- 
ed to  the  south,  reaching  Waterford  about  the  middle  of  December, 
"  w^here  he  was  received  Avith  all  shows  and  tokens  of  gladness  and 
pomp,  as  well  upon  the  water  as  the  land,  and  presented  with  the  best 
commodities  they  had." 

Entertained  by  Power  at  Corraghmore  with  great  splendor  he 
passed  through  Decies,  badly  governed,  toDungarvan  where  though 
much  decayed  he  lay  three  nights,  and  passing  by  Youghal,  too 
much  damaged  in  the  late  strife  to  receive  him,  reached  Cork  two 
days  before  Christmas.  Here  for  six  weeks  his  court  was  attended 
by  the  earls  of  Desmond,  Thomond  and  Clancarre,  accompanied  by 
fourteen  lords  of  countries,  archbishop  of  Cashel,  bishops  of  Cork 
and  Ross,  viscounts  Barry  and  Roche,  barons  of  Courcy,  Lixnaw, 
Dunboyne,  Barry  Oge,  and  Louth  who  of  slender  means  by  his  cul- 
ture and  refinement  of  manner  and  life  set  a  good  example  to  other 
Irish  chieftains.  Thither  came  Donogh  lord  of  Carbery  and  Cor- 
mac  of  MuskeiTy,  neither  of  them  but  in  respect  of  tei-ritory  able 


424  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

to  be  viscounts,  and  he  wished  them  to  be  made  barons,  for  both 
were  good  subjects  and  the  latter  for  obedience  to  law  and  disposition 
"the  rarest  man  that  was  ever  born  in  Ii'ishry."  The  O'Sullivans 
Mor  and  Beare,  Carrolls,  Donoghues  of  Loughlene  and  Glenflesk, 
Callaghan,  Mahonys  and  Driscols,  McTyrnans  and  Mac  Finnins, 
Macauleys,  rej^resentatives  of  the  five  powerful  MacSweenys,  were 
there,  besides  the  brothers  of  the  earl  of  Desmond,  Thomas,  John 
and  James,  and  the  ruined  relics  of  ancient  English  inhabitants,  Arun- 
dels,  Rochfords,  Barrets,  Fleramings,  Lombards  and  Tyrnys  and 
many  more  of  English  name.  "  And  the  better  to  furnish  the 
beauty  and  filling  of  the  city,  all  these  principal  lords  had  with  them 
their  wives  during  all  the  Christmas  festivities,  who  truly  kept  very 
honorable,  at  least  very  plentiful  houses,  and  widows  of  earls," 
among  them  doubtless  the  ancient  countess  of  Desmond  who  dwelt 
at  Inchiquin  near  by,  "and  others  of  good  note  and  account." 

His  court  was  held  with  much  magnificence  and  fitting  ceremonial, 
to  which  many  of  the  guests  were  unaccustomed,  and  led  to  the 
adoption  of  many  improvements  in  elegance  and  refinement.  The 
mornings  after  twelfth  night  were  spent  in  judging  and  condemning 
dozens  of  malefactors,  members  of  many  of  the  most  influential  fami- 
lies in  INIunster.  When  the  month  was  over,  sleeping  two  nights  at 
Castletown  Roche  and  passing  by  Kilmallock,  noAv  restored  in  part 
to  its  former  condition,  he  entered  Limerick  accompanied  by  Desmond, 
Louth  and  the  bishops,  "received  with  greater  pomp  than  he  had  ever 
before  had  or  saw  yielded  to  any  other  in  the  land."  Irish  chiefs  re- 
paired thither  requesting  the  benefit  of  English  laws,  in  which  the 
deputy,  ever  set  on  the  main  chance,  saw  promise  of  greater  rents 
for  her  majesty  than  ever  before.  Ormond  and  Upper  Ossory, 
Thomond,  Sir  Donald  and  other  O'Briens,  "  near  kinsmen "  but 
"extreme  enemies,"  and  the  two  MacNamaras  and  the  likewise  sons 
■  of  Clanrickard  attended  his  court.  As  February  ended,  with  the 
latter  in  his  train,  he  passed  through  Thomond. 


TKANSFER      OF      ERIN.    .  425 

Sligo  appeared  prosperous,  abounding  in  strangers  who  drove  a  traf- 
fic more  profitable  to  themselves  than  to  the  queen's  customs .  Athcnry 
presented  a  woful  spectacle,  college,  church  and  all  else  of  value  burnt 
by  the  graceless  sons  of  Clanrickard.  Sydney  partook  of  the  hospi- 
tality of  O'Kelly  for  a  night,  and  having  held  his  court  for  nine  days 
atAthlone,  where  a  Burke  of  distinction  was  condemned  and  executed, 
went  on  to  Annaly.  The  old  chief  Hugh  O'Reilly  of  Breffny  was 
ill,  and  his  approaching  end  threatened  to  breed  dissension  among 
his  seven  sons  and  their  descendants,  whose  scramble  for  the  throne 
resulted  later  in  a  division  of  the  land,  to  the  destruction  of  its  in- 
dependence and  its  final  transfer  to  strangers.  Holding  sessions  as 
he  passed,  by  law  common  or  martial,  or  flat  fighting,  Sydney  claimed 
credit  for  hordes  of  men  "  taking  food  without  the  good  will  of  the 
giver,  some  of  the  best,  the  rest  trembling,  who  fight  for  their  dinner 
and  many  lose  their  heads  before  they  are  served  with  their  supper. 
Down  they  go  in  every  corner,  and  down  they  shall  go,  God  willing." 
He  concludes  this  is  not  "  a  dainty  dish  to  set  before  the  queen " 
though  a  Tudor,  or  to  stuff  his  letters  withal. 

At  Galway  he  took  into  consideration  all  griefs  and  losses ,  complaints 
of  murder,  burning,  sacrilege  and  spoils  infinite  and  immeasurable  that 
were  brought  before  him.  Much  of  the  mischief  attributable  to  the  con- 
tention of  Teigue,  son  of  Morrogh,  first  sheriff  of  Thomond,  and  the 
earl,  he  exiled  them  both,  and  putting  a  brother  of  Conor  in  irons, 
appointed  Sir  Donal  to  rule  over  Thomond,  now  created  the  county 
of  Clare.  Connaught  he  divided  into  four  counties,  Sligo,  Mayo, 
Galway  and  Roscommon.  Mac^Iahons,  Macnamaras  resorted  to 
his  court.  Richard  jNIac  AVilliam  oughter  of  Mayo  called  the  Iron, 
speaking  Latin  but  no  English,  a  lover  of  quiet  and  civility,  desired 
to  hold  his  lands  of  the  queen,  suppress  extortion  and  keep  out  the 
Scots.  He  is  described  as  ever  clad  in  mail.  His  wife  Grace  O'Mal- 
ly  of  Carry gahooly,  famous  by  sea  and  land  for  her  exploits,  afterwards 

on  a  visit  to  the  queen,  declined  to  be  made  a  countess,  though  her  son 
54 


426  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

became  viscount  of  Mayo.*  Both  attended  ;  and  Flaherty s,  Kelly s, 
Maddens  and  Naghtans  came  in,  professing  for  the  time  being  their 
attachment  to  Elizabeth  and  her  representative.  The  archbishop  of 
Tuam,  bishops  of  Clonfert  and  Kilmacduagh  and  the  baron  of  Athen- 
ry,  a  poor  lord  but  honest  and  sensible,  made  also  their  obeisance. 

Besides  beheading  a  vast  number  of  insurgents  and  bad  subjects, 
Sydney  "  abolished  the  custom  of  keeping  poets  and  literary  men, 
public  festivals,  kernes,  bonaghts  or  retained  soldiers  and  their  leaders." 
From  the  peaceable  disposition  manifested  during  his  progress,  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  seven  hundred  foot  and  three  hundred 
horse  would  keep  the  country  quiet  unless  in  case  of  invasion,  A 
church  more  disordered  and  overthrown  by  the  ruin  of  temples,  dis- 
sipation and  embezzlement  of  its  patrimony,  want  of  ministers, 
nowhere  existing  where  Christ  was  professed,  he  recommended  that 
the  queen's  farmers  should  repair  its  edifices,  clergymen  properly 
qualified  for  its  services,  versed  in  English  and  Irish,  be  sent  over 
from  England  and  Scotland,  and  commissioners  of  good  learning 
and  religion  inquire  into  its  condition  and  provide  for  its  reformation. 
A  chief  justice  and  attorney  general,  acquainted  with  English  law* 
were  needed ;  no  lawyer  in  the  island  possessing  sufficient  skill  to 
fill  these  offices. 

Pressure  of  affairs  detained  the  ever  active  deputy  for  a  few  weeks 

*  The  posterity  of  Fitz  Adelmn,  g.  g.  grandson  of  Harlowcn  de  Burg  and  Arlotta  mother 
of  William  the  Conqueror,  progenitor  of  Burkes,  Bourkes,  de  Burgs  in  Ireland,  able,  pro- 
lific and  prosperous,  rival  the  stars  in  multitude.  The  eldest  line,  from  which  proceeded  the 
lords  of  Castleconncll  and  Brittas,  ended  with  the  third  earl  of  Ulster  in  1332,  Avhcn  two 
brothers,  grandsons  of  William  Athenkip,  brother  according  to  Lodge  of  the  first  earl,  chang- 
ingtheir  name  and  adopting  Irish  laws,  habits  and  language,  divided  the  family  territory  in 
Con  naught  between  them.  William  the  eldest,  as  Mac  William  Eighter,  took  in  Galw.ay, 
of  which  his  line,  earls  and  marquisesof  Clanrickard,  still  hold  portions ;  Edmund  Albanach 
the  younger,  Mac  Willi.im  Oughter  in  Mayo,  dying  an  aged  man  in  137-5.  Edmund  left  by 
Sabina  O'Malley,  a  son  Thomas  d.  in  1402,  from  whose  eldest  son  Walter  d.  1449,  derive 
the  present  earls  of  Mayo,  so  created  in  1785;  his  second  son,  Edmund  the  bearded, 
pronounced  by  the  annalists  "  the  only  Englishman  in  Ireland  worthy  to  be  chosen  chief 
for  his  resolution,  proportions  of  person,  generosity,  hospitality,  constancy,  truth,  gentility 
of  blood,  martial  feats  and  qualities  by  which  a  man  might  merit  praise,"  was  father  by 
Honora  of  Clam-ickard  of  Ulick.  Ulick  and  Sal)e  O'Kelly  were  parents  of  Edmond,  whose 
son  David  by  Finola  O'Flahcrty  was  the  father  of  this  Richard  an  Iran  mentioned  in  the 
text  as  husband  of  Grace  O'Mall}'.  He  died  in  1583,  described  l)y  th'e  annalists  as  "  a  plun- 
dering, warlike,  unquiet  and  reliellious  man,  who  had  often  forced  the  gap  of  danger,  and 
upon  whom  it  was  frequently  forced."  His  son  Theobald  created  viscount  of  Mayo  in 
1627,  still  a  child,  his  distant  kinsman,  Richard,  son  of  Oliver,  sou  of  John,  Wiis  installed 
in  his  place. 


TKANSFER     OF     ERIN.  427 

in  the  capital.  The  expected  arrival  of  the  new  chancellor  Gcrrard  ; 
dealings  with  O'Kourke  "  the  prondestuian  in  Ireland  "  ;  a  new  earldom 
of  Clan  O'Neil  for  Turlogh  and  barony  of  Iveragh  for  Maginnis  ;  the 
grants  of  Malbie  and  Chatterton  to  be  revoked  ;  disputes  of  Ormond 
with  O'Carrol  about  the  dower  claim  of  lady  Giles  to  Dorow, 
occupied  his  time  and  correspondence,  when  his  attention  was 
claimed  by  fresh  outbreaks  in  Connaught.  When  at  Galway  the 
sons  of  Clanrickard  had  demurely  volunteered  their  submission,  and 
promised  to  be  quiet.  The  deputy  nevertheless  by  a  stretch  of  au- 
thority carried  them  off  prisoners  to  Dublin.  Having  no  just  cause 
to  detain  them,  he  set  them  free,  extorting  a  promise  that  they  would 
not  go  home  without  his  permission.  Out  of  his  clutches,  regarding 
an  agreement  under  duress  as  of  slight  obligation,  and  summoned 
by  their  father,  they  crossed  the  Shannon,  and  the  elements  of  discord, 
there  abounding,  speedily  betrayed  them  into  overt  acts.  They  set  the 
new  gates  of  Athenry  in  ablaze,  and  drove  away  the  masons  from 
their  work.  Sydney  gathering  his  forces  started  at  once  for  the  west, 
reaching  Athlone  by  the  tenth  of  July.  Pouncing  upon  the  earl,  he 
placed  garrisons  in  his  castles  and  sent  him  to  Dublin,  where,  in 
close  confinement,  without  a  soul  to  speak  to,  he  had  long  to  remain. 
On  his  way  back  Sydney  established  Sir  William  Drury  in  the  presi- 
dency of  Munster,  to  which  Clare  was  now  added.  Fitton  was 
removed  from  Athlone,  and  his  administration  having  created  abhor- 
rence, Sir  Nicholas  Malbie  appointed  colonel  of  Connaught  took 
command  of  that  province. 

Ulick  and  John,  sons  of  Clanrickard,  enraged  at  the  harsh  treat- 
ment of  a  father  to  whom,  if  not  always  respectful  or  obedient,  they 
were  attached,  had  recourse  to  arms  to  expel  the  intruders,  who  mas- 
ters of  the  fortresses  in  pleasant  places  and  with  superior  weapons, 
retained  their  hold,  and  drove  them  back  to  the  wild  recesses  of  the 
forests  and  "  rough  topped  mountains,"  the  country  ravaged  by  either 
party  and  countless  herds  destroyed. 


428  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Drury,  cruel  and  unsparing,  occupied  himself  with  hanging  gentle 
and  simple,  boasting  when  he  left  of  the  many  hundreds  of  which 
this  disposition  was  made.  The  deputy  had  advised  the  queen  to 
deprive  both  Ormond  and  Desmond  of  their  palatine  rights,  and 
Drury,  instructed  to  carry  out  this  policy  as  regarded  the  latter,  pro- 
ceeded to  usurp  the  long  vested  rights  of  his  progenitors,  and  to  hold 
courts,  civil  and  criminal,  even  at  Tralee.  As  he  approached  the 
place  with  three  score  men  as  his  guard,  in  the  dense  forest  that  then 
stretched  down  from  the  top  of  Brandon  to  its  gates,  his  little  party 
were  surrounded  by  several  hundred  of  the  Geraldine  forces,  who 
swarmed  around  them,  brandishing  their  arms  and  shouting  their 
battle  cry.  The  president  with  serried  ranks,  pressed  directly  on  his 
course  without  other  show  of  opposition,  and  reaching  the  gates, 
sounded  his  signal  for  admission. 

At  the  opening  portal  appeared  the  countess,  the  admirable  Elinor 
Butler.  She  endeavored  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  angry  president 
by  representing  it  merely  as  a  rude  welcome,  and  accounting  for 
the  presence  of  so  great  a  multitude  by  an  intended  chase  for  deer. 
He  with  scant  courtesy  accepted  the  explanation  and  entered  the  cas- 
tle. Down  to  the  present  century  still  stood,  in  all  of  its  feudal 
grandeur,  this  ancient  stronghold  of  the  Geraldines,  which  for  six- 
teen earls  served  as  the  seat  of  their  judicial  administration,  though 
the  pleasanter  abodes  of  Askeaton  and  Kilmallock,  Imokilly  and 
Stracally,  were  their  preferred  residence.  After  indulging  in  his  taste 
for  the  haher  by  suspending  four  score  men  by  the  neck,  the  presi- 
dent proceeded  by  Limerick  to  Cork,  where  he  apprehended  John  of 
Desmond,  for  being  on  good  terms  with  the  Burkes  whose  sister  he 
had  recently  agreed  to  espouse,  and  sent  him  a  prisoner  to  Dublin. 

The  court  at  Ennis  held  for  eight  days  by  Drury  in  June,  1577, 
largely  attended  by  both  races,  ended  in  disappointment.  His  efforts 
to  persuade  tlie  Dalgais  of  their  own  free  will  to  acknowledge  the 
queen  by  feudal  relations  and  payment  of  rent,  came  to  naught,  and 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  429 

he  went  back  to  Limerick  leaving  a  force  to  reduce  them  to  obedience. 
The  earl  went  over  to  London  to  ward  off  the  impending  blow,  but 
before  his  return  arbitrary  measures  overcame  their  resistance,  and  a 
cess  of  ten  pounds  for  each  barony  was  acceded  to  by  his  subordinate 
chiefs. 

The  queen  was  gracious  to  him  and  disposed  to  favor  his  wishes, 
but  not  to  give  up  the  rents  except  of  Ins  own  domains.  She  con- 
sented at  his  request  to  confirm  the  earldom  in  tail  on  his  lineal 
heirs,  but  when  he  claimed  the  right,  immemorial  in  the  princes  of 
Thomond,  to  make  surnames,  and  after  the  decease  of  every  chief, 
to  nominate  his  successor,  and  also  wardships  and  reliefs  incident  to 
feudal  tenure,  she  demurred,  leaving  it  to  Sydney  to  grant  him  reliefs 
from  the  meaner  freeholders,  but  wished  the  more  powerfid  to  hold 
directly  from  herself.  The  customs  of  Clare  and  Clanroad  he  might 
have,  and  "  exemption  from  bonaght  on  his  own  lands  as  it  had  been 
abolished."  She  also  gave  him  the  moiety  of  the  abbey  of  Clare, 
still  vested  in  the  crown,  he  already  having  the  other,  and  what  be- 
longed to  the  abbeys  of  Ennis  and  Quin,  but  not  the  island  of  Scat- 
tery  which  might  be  wanted  by  the  city  of  Limerick.  His  son 
Donogh  had  been  brought  up  at  court,  and  his  daughter  Margaret 
was  about  to  marry  James  Butler  second  lord  of  Dunboyne,  and  her 
partiality  for  her  distant  kinsmen  may  account  for  her  readiness  to 
comply  with  his  desires. 

Donogh  Reagh  lord  of  Cabery,  brother-in-law  of  James  Fitzmau- 
rice,  ended  his  days  in  January,  1576,  leavinga  son  Florence  then  fif- 
teen years  of  age,  whose  career  was  destined  to  prove  peculiarly  event- 
ful. His  brother  Owen,*  under  the  brehon  law,  succeeded  to  the 
chieftainship.  He  left  another  son  Dermod  Moyle,  who  took  also 
a  conspicuous  part  in  the  subsequent  turmoil,  and  a  daughter  Julia 
who  became  the  wife  of  Sir  Owen  O'Sullivan  Mor,  prince  of  Dun- 

*  Owen  liy  Helena  O'Callnghan  Iiad  a  son  Florence  in  1599,  from  whom  descended  a 
branch  of  the  name  eslal)li^hed  at  Ilochelle  in  France,  one  of  whom,  Seij^neur  dc  la  Martiere, 
was  by  Louis  XVI.  created  vicomte  McCartliy  in  irsC. 


430  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

keiTon.  The  decease  of  Donogli  received  due  commemoration  from 
the  annalists  as  "cause  of  lamentafion  to  the  chiefs,  of  sadness  to  the 
husbandmen  and  farmers  of  his  territory ;  he  is  said  to  have  out- 
shone his  seniors  and  not  to  have  been  excelled  by  his  juniors."  His 
remains  were  laid  with  those  of  his  father  Donal  and  his  grandfather 
Fineen  in  the  monastery  of  Timoleague,  which  also  served  as  the 
burial  place  of  the  Mahonys  amongst  the  most  powerful  of  his 
subordinate  chieftains.  The  demise  of  another  chieftain  in  Carbery,  a 
year  later,  led  to  a  domestic  tragedy. 

Near  the  southern  coast  of  Ireland,  west  of  Kinsale,  and  along  the 
banks  of  the  Bandon,  which  winds  its  way  through  the  fertile  lands 
and  picturesque  scenery  of  Carbery,  stood  many  of  the  twenty-six  cas- 
tles of  the  southern  branch  of  the  Mac  Carthy  chieftains.  In  the 
fourteenth  century,  Cormac  Don,  son  of  Donald  the  handsome  first 
prince  of  Carbery  by  the  daughter  of  the  marquis  of  Carew,  re- 
ceived from  his  father  Glen-a-Chroim,  consisting  of  fifty-seven 
ploughlands,  forming  a  considerable  portion  of  east  Carbery.  Ac- 
knowledging no  fealty  to  the  McCarthy  Reagh  or  bound  to  attend 
his  rising  out,  this  sept  growing  more  vigorous  from  not  being  often 
molested,  still  formed  part  of  his  array.  Their  strong  castles  of 
Dunmanway  and  Togher  were  famed  for  hospitality,  and  they  ranked 
high  for  power  and  influence.  Whilst  Drury  was  president  of  Mun- 
ster,  Florence,  sixth  in  descent  from  the  first  lord,  ended  his  days, 
and  though  leaving  sons  his  brother  Cormac  as  tanist  succeeded  ac- 
cording to  law,  receiving  the  white  wand  as  badge  of  his  office. 

From  their  seven  score  castles  in  Cork  and  Kerry,  two  thirds  of  all 
that  then  stood,  the  Milesian  chiefs  thronged  to  his  inauguration, 
celebrated  with  the  traditional  festivities  of  the  house.  Neither 
prince  of  Carbery  nor  lord  of  Glen-a-Chroim  had  ever  surrendered, 
but  this  abandonment  of  ancient  tenure  extensively  prevailed  around 
among  their  neighbors,  and  rendered  it  less  easy  for  the  family  of  the 
deceased  to  yield  up  their  abodes  with  composure,  and  subside  into 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  431 

a  position  subordinate  to  that  of  their  chief,  who  would  ever  regard  them 
with  distrust.  When  the  guests  had  taken  their  departure,  whether 
from  simple  ambition  to  rule,  discontent  at  the  provision  made  for 
their  fnture,  or  under  other  extenuating  circumstances,  Cormac 
Don,  eldest  son  of  the  dead  Florence,  killed  his  uncle  the  new  chief 
in  the  halls  of  Dunmanway,  and  sent  for  by  Drury  to  Cork  was 
there  tried  and  executed.  His  brother  Tagh-an-Forsa  claimed  the 
succession,  and  to  strengthen  his  hold  proposed  through  Raleigh  to 
surrender  and  take  back  the  territory  to  hold  under  English  law. 

Fynin,  son  of  the  murdered  chief,  went  also  over  to  court,  and  in 
a  petition  drawn  up  by  Florence  Mor,  then  a  prisoner  in  the  tower, 
set  forth  his  pretensions.  It  was  decided  that  the  title  forfeited  by 
the  murder  had  vested  in  the  crown,  and  the  queen  bestowed  Glen-a- 
chroim  on  Tagh  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Tagh-an-Duna.  In 
1652,  when  both  father  and  son  had  passed  to  their  account,  their  do- 
mains were  thought  too  precious  to  be  left  to  Irish  OAvnership,  and 
upon  an  alleged  crime  perpetx'ated  ten  years  before,  not  by  either  of 
them  but  by  their  retainers,  whereby  two  English  merchants  named 
Ford  had  been  slain,  the  property  was  wrested  away.  Though  par- 
tially restored  to  their  heir  in  1685,  it  was  again  confiscated  in  169G 
and  the  larger  part  of  it  vested  in  Sir  Richard  Cox  the  historian. 
The  family  afterwards  continued  impoverished  for  several  generations, 
its  lineal  representative,  another  Dermod-an-Duna  dying,  in  the  last 
century,  in  the  castle  of  Donovan,  kindly  cared  for  by  its  proprietors 
his  distant  kinsmen.  They  have  regained  prosperity  and  lustre  in 
later  years,  one  of  the  present  generation  having  been  governor  of 
Ceylon,  another  author  of  the  life  of  Floi-ence  Mor,  who  befriended 
Felim  without  effect  against  Tagh-an-Forsa  the  successful  claimant 
imder  Elizabeth. 

Chancellor  Gerrard  allowed  no  opportunity  to  escape,  in  discharge 
of  his  official  functions  of  letting  the  full  weight  of  his  authority  be 
felt,  whether  in  pi'ocuring  evidence  against  Sir  John  of  Desmond  and 


432  TllANSFER     or     ERIN. 

Clanrickard,  or  establishing  circuits  to  administer  injustice.  His 
active  spirit  found  less  dignified  but  more  useful  employment  in 
weighing  beef,  and  making  bread,  that  the  one  might  be  heavy  and 
the  other  light.  0'E.ourke,  having  a  mint  of  his  own  or  suffering 
coiners  in  his  realm,  Sydney  insisted  upon  the  royal  monopoly  of 
making  light  money,  and  Malbie,  aided  by  some  of  his  turbulent  sub- 
jects, seized  castles  and  towns,  which  were  speedily  recovered  or 
restored.  Either  from  climate  or  bad  habit,  grown  infectious, 
human  life  was  held  of  little  worth.  Drury,  like  Sydney  and  Cosbie, 
revelled  in  its  destruction,  boasting  of  the  hecatombs  hurried  by  axe, 
halter  or  like  method  to  account,  among  them  Morrogh  son  of  the 
first  earl  of  Thomond.*  The  Irish,  quick, [^passionate  and  contentious, 
took  pleasure  in  combat,  and  welcomed  death  in  what  they  regarded 
as  the  field  of  glory,  but  their  task-masters  restrained  by  no  sense  of 
responsibility  for  their  deeds  inflicted  it  without  compunction,  as  they 
had  the  mind.  Cotemporary  historians  and  correspondence  preserved 
express  no  hoiTor  at  what  in  our  day  would  be  considered  barbarities, 
and  which  estop  the  dominant  race  from  reproaching  that  forced  to 
succumb  for  occasionally  following  their  example. 

Sydney  in  September,  1578,  after  reconciling  Drury  with  Desmond 
M'hose  professions  of  loyalty  were  not  dissembled,  gladly  went  out 
to  use  his  own  phrase  like  the  house  of  Jacob  from  among  a  strange 
people.  "With  painful  labor,  by  day  and  night,  in  foul  and  fair 
weather,  in  storm  and  tempest,  in  scarcity  and  penury,  in  danger  of 
the  enemies  and  peril  of  his  life,  continually  studying,  devising, 
travelling,  toiling  and  laboring  to  do  them  good,  so  long  as  they 
felt  the  ease  and  comfort,  they  were  contented  and  grateful."  But  for 
much  else  that  was  less  to  their  taste,  as  the  obsequious  Hooker 
adds,  "  they  would  have  torn  out  not  one  eye  as  the  Lacedemonians  did 
from  Lycui'gus  for  like  efforts  to  civilize  them,  but  both.      Still  few 

*  Ancestor  of  the  lord  Inchiquin,  present  repvesentative  of  Brian  Born,  unless  the  Mahons 
have  the  elder  claim. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  433 

characters  connected  with  Irish  administration,  for  honesty  of  purpose, 
good  temper,  wisdom  to  phm  or  ability  to  execute,  deserve  more  re- 
spectful and  affectionate  remembrance  than  his.  At  a  period  when 
all  around  him  w^ere  mercenary  and  grasping,  covetous  of  what 
belonged  to  other  men  or  to  the  state,  he  was  almost  the  solitary 
exception  of  disinterestedness  and  singularly  free  from  selfish  motive 
or  personal  consideration.  His  nearly  twenty  years  of  arduous  ser- 
vice, not  all  continuous,  left  him  twenty  thousand  pounds  poorer,  and 
five  thousand  in  debt.  It  was  to  his  credit  that  he  did  not  enrich 
his  family  with  Irish  lands,  and  that  his  sons  had  no  part  or  work  in 
Irish  conquests.  He  survived  his  return  to  Penshurst  till  October, 
158G,  dying  immediately  after  his  eldest  son  the  gallant  Philip  fell 
mortally  wounded  at  Zutphen,  and  nearly  a  century  before  his  great 
grandson,  the  equally  celebrated  Algernon,  lost  his  head  at  Tower 
Hill  for  alleged  connection  with  the  Rye  House  plot. 

Clanrickard,  accompanying  him  to  London  as  a  prisoner,  in  March 
vindicated  his  character  and  conduct  from  any  taint  of  disloyalty,  by 
an  enumeration  of  his  services  to  the  queen  and  her  predecessors. 
"  Coming  into  Ireland  under  Edward  VI.  he  recovered  his  territories 
at  his  own  charges.  Through  his  power  and  influence  Kellys  and 
Conors  held  back  from  the  chiefs  of  Leix  and  OfFaly,  in  consequence 
forced  to  submit ;  and  he  captured  Cahir  O'Conor  who  was  executed. 
Under  Anthony  St.  Leger,  he  crippled  Donald  O'Brien  chief  of 
Thomond,  and  with  eight  hundred  men  aided  Sussex  in  1558  to  ban- 
ish him  and  substitute  the  earl  in  his  stead.  When  Cusack  waged  war 
with  OfFaly,  he  overthrew  Mac  Willam  and  the  Scots  at  Cosliebh, 
and  soon  after  took  Meelick.  Whilst  Sussex  raided  Cantire  in  1558, 
he  defeated  at  the  Moy  twelve  hundred  Scots  under  Kichard-an-Irain, 
slaying  Donnel  and  Dowell,  cousins  of  Argyle,  few  escaping  his 
four  days  pursuit. 

"  He  at  a  later  period  greatly  strengthened  Sussex,  against  Shane 
O'Neil,  whom  marauding  in  Sligo  he  drove  off,  and  induced  Hugh 
55 


434  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

O'Donnel  to  desert.  With  Sydney  he  reduced  Roscommon  and  re- 
covered Birmingham's  castle  ;  sided  with  Fitton  in  his  quarrel  with 
Thomoud  and  at  Shrule,  extricating  him  from  the  meshes  of  O'Fla- 
herty  ;  and  after  killing,  in  1561,  two  hundred  Scots,  took  part  with 
him  the  following  November  in  the  subjugation  of  Connaught,  win- 
ning castles,  burning  and  spoiling,  and  exacting  pledges.  Because 
his  sons  and  Fitton  disagreed,  he  was  imprisoned  eighteen  months  at 
Dublin.  When  released  he  had  hung  his  own  son,  his  nephew,  sec- 
ond cousin,  one  of  his  captains  and  fifty  of  his  followers  that  bore 
armor  for  then-  rebellious  behavior." 

In  an  admirably  expressed  letter  to  the  queen  he  denied  ever 
countenancing  his  sons  in  any  treasonable  practices,  prayed  that  if 
any  one  accused  him  he  might  be  permitted  to  prove  his  innocence, 
and  promised  to  be  ever  loyal.  His  aj)peal  proved  unavailing.  His 
enemies  were  many  and  powerful.  He  was  detained  till  June,  1582, 
when  he  was  released  to  die  the  month  following,  after  an  imprison- 
ment of  five  years,  for  no  ostensible  or  conceivable  cause  than  that 
he  could  not  govern  his  wives  and  sons,  or  that  some  one  coveted  his 
possessions.  Designated  Sassanagh  or  Englishman  by  the  Irish,  his 
fate  curiously  illustrates  the  arbitrary  rule  of  Elizabeth. 


XXXVI. 

REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 

These  arbitrary  measures  :  transfer  from  the  Irish  of  Leix,  Offaly, 
Oriel,  Idrone  and  the  Fews ;  grants  to  Essex  and  Smith ;  tlie 
Carew  claim  in  Munster,  if  suspended  awaiting  only  more  favorable 
conditions  to  push ;  introduction  of  English  law  and  courts,  under 
which  they  had  no  rights  to  be  respected,  whilst  they  were  subjected 
to  every  injustice,  in  place  of  the  brehon,  to  which  they  were  ac- 
customed ;  substitution  of  feudal  tenure  vesting  the  territory  in  earls 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  435 

and  barons  for  their  old  chieftainries,  which  left  large  liberties  and 
defined  rights  to  every  clansman  ;  the  fixed  purpose  of  a  protestant 
queen  and  her  ministers  to  impose  upon  a  people,  all  catholic,  forms 
of  faith  and  worship,  which,  from  the  corruption,  hypocrisy  and  un- 
christian practices  that  attended  them,  outraged  whatever  religious 
sentiment  they  possessed,  were  generating  one  universal  spirit  of 
abhorrence  to  English  rule,  Avarily  watching  its  chance. 

At  catholic  courts  and  especially  at  Rome,  able  representatives 
were  pleading  their  cause.  Fitzmaurice  traversed  the  continent  with 
various  experiences,  seconded  by  MacCreagh,  O'Herlihy  and  other 
prelates,  who  were  long  deluded  by  promises  of  aid,  which  dangers 
nearer  home  prevented  catholic  monarchs  from  extending.  Disap- 
pointment hardly  chilled  their  ardor,  and  they  persevered  against 
every  discouragement.  Success  came,  but  proved  so  inconsidera- 
ble and  inadequate,  that  it  served  only  to  precipitate  the  calamities 
it  was  designed  to  avert.  Men  act  from  mingled  motives.  Even 
in  Fitzmaurice,  if  analyzed  might  be  detected  elements  of  worldly 
aspiration,  not  all  compact  of  religious  zeal  or  generous  patriotism. 
In  his  principal  coadjutor,  when  his  whole  career  passes  in  review, 
hardly  one  refreshing  trait  can  be  found  but  personal  courage.  He 
was  vain,  self-seeking  and  unscrupulous,  wholly  occupied  with 
schemes  for  his  personal  aggrandizement,  unwise  as  dishonest,  and 
yet  from  manner  and  address,  talent  for  intrigue,  and  tact  in  man- 
agement of  men,  far  more  influential  than  the  staider  and  nobler 
Fitzmaurice. 

Thomas  Stukely,  from  similarity  of  form  and  feature  as  well  as 
other  resemblances,  deepened  the  impression  sustained  by  tradition, 
that  like  Perrot  he  owed  his  being  to  Henry  VIH.  His  reputed 
parentage  at  Ilfracombe  in  Devon,  if  not  attended  Avith  affluence,  af- 
forded him  high  social  position  for  advancement  Avliich  he  knew  how  to 
improve.  His  first  employment  in  the  household  of  a  bishop  did 
little    to    elevate    his  character,  and    marrying    a    fortune    that    he 


436  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

squandered  of  a  lady  he  deserted,  he  sought  to  better  his  condition 
by  planting  a  colony  in  Florida,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the  governor. 
When  taking  his  departure  he  told  the  queen  he  preferred  rather  to  be 
sovereign  of  a  molehill  than  the  highest  subject  of  the  greatest  king  in 
Christendom,  adding  that  he  was  assured  of  being  a  prince  before  he 
died.  Elizabeth  banteringly  answered,  I  shall  hear  from  you  when 
instated  in  your  principalities.  To  which  he  responded  he  would 
write,  and  when  asked  by  her  in  what  language,  rejoined,  in  the  style 
of  princes — to  our  dearest  sister. 

Want  of  means  blocked  his  American  project,  but  he  brought 
into  an  Irish  port  some  captured  French  merchantmen.  Little  dis- 
tinction was  then  made  between  piracy  and  buccaneering,  and  less 
legitimate  cruising  yielded  him  yet  better  harvest.  In  hostilities 
ashore,  his  military  talents  and  gallant  bearing  attracted  the  notice 
of  Sydney,  who  turned  to  account  his  diplomatic  shrewdness  in  ne- 
gotiations with  O'Neil.  The  queen  distrusted  him,  and  refusing  him 
the  stewardship  of  Wexford,  he  cultivated  the  leading  catholics,  and 
with  credentials  from  them  in  1570  went  into  Spain.  Philip  at  first 
favored  him,  promising  aid  to  the  cause  he  represented,  but  soon 
grew  weary  of  his  importunities  and  self-sufficiency,  and  Stukely 
disappointed  repaired  to  Kome.  Here  again  he  made  friends.  The 
pope  taking  him  at  his  own  estimate  and  eager  to  retain  what  hold 
he  had  upon  Ireland,  listened  patiently  to  his  representations ;  but 
on  longer  acquaintance,  recognizing  his  vanity  and  the  emptiness  of 
his  pretensions,  amused  himself  by  heaping  upon  him  a  multitude  of 
titles,  creating  him  baron  of  Ross  and  Idrone,  viscount  Murrogli 
and  Kinsellagh,  earl  of  Wexford  and  Carlow,  marquis  of  Leinster 
and  general  of  the  army  of  the  holy  pontiff. 

It  chanced  then  as  often  later  that  the  states  of  the  church  were 
infested  with  bandits  and  other  malefactors,  whom  the  pope  gladly 
pardoned  on  condition  that  they  would  go  with  Stukely,  who  select- 
ing a  thousand  or  more  from  their  number,  to  be  paid  by  the  Spanish 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  437 

king,  set  sail  with  them  for  Ireland  in  the  spring  of  1578.  Put- 
ting into  Lisbon  to  repair  his  vessels,  he  found  the  unfortunate 
Sebastian  with  two  Moorish  kings  starting  to  dethrone  the  emperor 
of  Morocco.  Promised  aid  after  their  return  for  his  own  expedition, 
he  consented  to  accompany  them  in  their  ill-starred  enterprise.  At 
the  battle  of  Alcazar,  stationed  near  the  royal  standard  he  endeav- 
ored to  dissuade  Sebastian  from  a  charge  at  disadvantage,  but  with- 
out avail.  They  rushed  to  the  encounter,  which  pro\ed  fatal  to  the 
three  kings  as  also  to  himself,  and  ended  in  utter  rout. 

James  Fitzmaurice,  meanwhile  zealously  employed  in  Spain  in 
procuring  additional  forces,  when  he  heard  of  the  disaster,  hastened 
to  collect  the  survivors,  about  eighty  in  all,  and  with  a  few  Canta- 
brians.  Dr.  Saunders,  Allen,  and  Ryan  bishop  of  Killaloe,  embarked 
in  three  small  vessels,  reaching  Smerwick  beyond  Tralee  in  Kerry 
in  July,  1579.  Upon  a  rocky  promontory  connected  with  the  main 
by  a  ledge,  stood  a  small  work  which  he  strengthened,  but  had  hardly 
disembarked  his  men  and  material,  when  a  vessel  of  war  under  Court- 
ney, coming  round  from  Kinsale,  entered  the  harbor  and  captured 
his  ships. 

John  of  Desmond  and  others  came  to  welcome  him,  and  the  party 
soon  distributed  engaged  in  preparation  against  the  enemy,  whose 
coming  they  had  reason  to  expect.  As  Desmond  held  aloof,  John 
was  doubted,  but  when  urged  to  commit  himself  by  some  act  of 
hostility,  he  assaulted  at  night  Tralee  where  Arthur  Carter  the  Eng- 
lish marshal  had  taken  refuge,  and  with  him  Henry  Davels,  sent  to 
keep  Desmond  to  his  allegiance.  Both  were  slaughtered,  Davels, 
according  to  the  evidence  of  a  small  boy,  who  slept  in  his  chamber, 
by  Sir  John. 

James  started  soon  after  for  the  abbey  of  Holy  Cross  to  per- 
form a  vow  or  collect  his  promised  adherents.  With  a  small 
force  commanded  by  Thaddeus  McCarthy,  crossing  a  river  a  few 
miles  southeast  of  Limerick,  he  encountered  his  cousin  Theobald  of 


438  TRANSFEROFERIN. 

Castleconnal,  who  with  his  brothers  Richard  and  Ulick  and  a  force 
superior  to  his  own  entered  the  water  on  the  other  side  to  dispute 
his  passage.  In  the  combat  that  ensued,  James  was  struck  by  a 
ball,  whereupon  putting  spurs  to  his  steed  he  rushed  upon  the 
enemy,  drove  them  from  the  ford,  and  overtaking  Theobald  clove  his 
head  with  his  sword ,  his  two  brothers  being  also  slain .  James ,  mortally 
wounded,  sought  shelter  in  the  forest,  and  begging  his  companions 
when  he  was  dead  to  cut  off  his  head,  that  his  remains  might  not  be 
recognized  or  subjected  to  indignities,  breathed  his  last,  six  hours 
after  the  enfja^ement.  His  death  was  too  great  a  relief  to  the 
English  for  his  body  to  remain  undisturbed,  and  exliumed  it  was 
after  the  fishion  of  the  time  quartered  and  exposed  to  gaze  at  Kil- 
mallock.  William  the  aged  father  of  the  Burkes  was  forthwith 
created  lord  of  Castleconnel.  At  his  investiture  in  May  he  swooned 
and  soon  died ;  whether  from  joy  at  his  new  rank,  or  grief  for  his 
sons,  is  differently  represented  by  the  historians. 

The  loss  of  James  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  catholic  cause. 
Desmond,  either  from  unwillingness  to  hazard  his  possessions,  or 
else  from  his  growing  infirmities,  being  unable  to  mount  his  horse 
without  assistance,  though  appointed  chief  of  the  holy  league  by  the 
pope,  chose  to  preserve  his  neutrality,  and  the  command  devolved 
upon  his  brother,  Sir  John.  The  queen,  alarmed  at  the  tidings  from 
Ireland,  offered  her  favorite  Orraond,  then  at  court,  the  territory  of 
Desmond  if  he  would  hasten  to  suppress  the  rising.  Drury  marched 
south  with  six  hundred  men  under  Bagnal,  Malby,  Wingfield,  Wa- 
terhouse,  Fitton  and  Masterson,  joined  by  Kildare,  Montgarret, 
Dunboyne  and  Upper  Ossory  with  some  hundreds  more  as  he  went. 
At  Kilmallock  he  sent  for  the  earl  of  Desmond,  wlio  with  some  hesi- 
tation obeyed  his  summons.  He  was  soon  set  free,  but  his  lands 
were  given  up  to  pillage,  and  his  brothers  soon  flew  to  arms  to  stay 
or  to  resent  it. 

Sir  John  posted  his  men,  who  had  rallied  in  goodly  numbers  to 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN 


439 


his  standard,  in  an  advantageous  position,  a  portion  in  ambuscade, 
when  a  strong-  detachment  of  the  English,  under  Eustace,  Herbert 
and  Price  came  up.  Attacked  in  flank  by  the  party  hid  in  the  wood, 
the  captains  with  tlu-ce  hundred  of  their  men  were  slain,  and  their 
army  put  to  flight. 

Reenforced  by  six  hundred  veterans  recently  arrived  at  Waterford, 
under  Bourchier,  Carew  and  Dowdal,  and  Perrot  arriving  at  Cork 
with  six  vessels  to  protect  the  coast  from  Spanish  armaments  con- 
stantly expected,  Drury  marched  into  Connello.  Destroying  what 
he  could  and  ill  from  excessive  fatigue,  he  transferred  the  command  to 
Malbie,  and,  carried  in  a  carriage  to  Waterford,  there  died.  We 
find  it  related  that  bishop  O'Healy  and  his  companion  O'Kourke,  who 
coming  into  the  country,  not  long  before  Fitzmaurice,  had  been  cap- 
tured, w-ere  brought  from  their  fetid  dungeon  before  him  at  Limerick, 
and  not  able  to  persuade  them  to  adopt  the  new  faith,  after  cruel 
torture,  he  condemned  them  to  death.  As  they  left  the  apartment, 
Healy  summoned  his  judge  to  meet  them  in  two  weeks,  before  a  higher 
than  earthly  tribunal,  and  within  that  period  they  had  all  entered 
their  appearance  in  that  dread  court  from  which  nothing  could  be 
concealed.  If  they  thus  met,  the  martyred  bishop  probably  grieved 
over  his  profanity,  as  Drury  over  his  long  and  bloody  record. 

Malbie  in  command,  leaving  three  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  men  in 
garrison  at  Kilmallock,  marched  to  Limerick  for  reinforcements. 
They  poured  in.  Ulick  Burke,  recently  from  his  imprisoned  father 
in  London,  and  whose  youthful  daughter  Honora*was  then  or  about 
to  be  Malbie's  wife,  joined  him  with  his  brother  John  and  the  Lacies. 
As  October  opened,  they  proceeded  in  search  of  the  Geraldines,  and 
nine  miles  to  the  southwest,  encamped  near  the  abbey  of  Monaster- 
nena,  still  magnificent  in  its  ruins,  but  standing  in  its  pristine  com- 
pleteness till  before  his  departure  Malbie  gave  it  to  the  rianies. 

*  Ulick  married  Margaret  Fitz  Alan,  daughter  of  the  earl  of  Arundel,  \-'M.  Malbie 
died  1.584.  His  daughter  Ursula  became  the  wife  of  Sir  Anthony  Brabazon,  1581.  After  his 
connection  with  the  Burkes  he  exerted  his  influence  iu  various  ways  for  the  release  of  the  earl. 


440  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Sir  John  of  Desmond,  that  his  troops  might  more  effectively  cope 
with  their  better  disciplined  adversaries,  had  availed  himself  of  the 
officers  from  abroad  to  train  them  for  the  new  methods  of  warfare. 
Their  proficiency  in  the  battle  that  ensued  excited  surprise,  and  Stan- 
ley the  marshal  wrote  Walsingham  that  they  came  into  the  field  as 
resolute  to  fight  as  the  best  soldiers  of  Europe,  and  later  that  the 
English  had  no  advantage  over  them  but  discipline.  Fitzmaurice 
had  brought  them  arms.  They  had  had  little  time  to  perfect  them- 
selves in  the  new  drill  and  tactics  ;  not  all  had  become  wonted  to 
their  new  weapons  ;  the  foreign  officers  placed  over  them  often  needed 
an  interpreter,  and  the  system  may  have  proved  rather  an  embar- 
rassment than  a  help. 

Desmond  would  have  gladly  deferred  the  combat  until  better 
prepared.  He  had  been  reinforced  that  morning  by  six  hundred 
men  under  his  brother,  James  Sussex,  and  overruled  by  the  persua- 
sion of  Allen  he  marched  to  meet  the  enemy.  Whilst  still  at  some 
distance  himself,  his  van  encountering  their  advance  guard  attacked 
them,  and  drove  them  to  their  camp.  The  fugitives  discovering  how 
scanty  their  numbers,  sallied  forth  in  great  strength,  and  had  al- 
ready gained  an  advantage,  when  Sir  John  coming  up  his  troops  re- 
sumed their  ranks,  and  the  battle  became  general.  Historians  disagree 
both  as  to  the  incidents  of  the  fight  and  its  result.  O'Haverty  says, 
the  Geraldines  twice  broke  the  ranks  of  the  royalists,  and  compelled 
them  to  retreat  in  order  to  reform ;  Mageoghan ,  that  both  sides 
fought  with  equal  bravery  till  the  right  wing  of  the  English  begin- 
ning to  give  way,  and  one  of  their  principal  officers  killed,  they  were 
entirely  routed,  after  an  engagement  of  an  hour  and  a  half.  O'Daly 
claimed  the  victory  for  his  own  countrymen,  and  that  large  guns, 
standards  and  other  spoils  fell  into  their  hands.  O'Sullivan,  whose 
father  Dermod  was  a  principal  leader  in  the  war  and  near  him  when 
he  wrote,  counts  it  among  the  victories  of  the  Geraldines.  The 
Four  Masters  compiled  when  not  safe  to  lisp  a  syllable  against  En- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  441 

glish  rule  or  English  history,  follow  Camden,  "  who  wrote  of  events 
he  had  not  seen,  according  to  the  prejudices  of  his  countrymen." 

Malbie,  on  the  tenth,  wrote  Walsingham  that  all  the  Geraldine  cap- 
tains wei*e  slain,  except  John  and  James,  who  marched  off  with  the 
papal  standard  in  post  haste  through  the  woods.  Tliis  would  seem 
an  embellishment.  The  standard  would  have  been  a  grand  prize  as 
well  as  the  brothers,  if  Malbie  had  dared  to  overtake  them.  The 
loss  was  heavy  on  both  sides,  two  hundred  and  sixty  slain  of  the 
Geraldines,  and  no  le^s  of  the  English.  The  two  armies  no  doubt 
were  alike  exhausted  and  demoralized,  and  neither  of  them  inclined  to 
renew  the  combat  when  interrupted  by  some  chance  of  the  day.  Mal- 
bie, rallying  his  troops  in  his  camp  on  the  ground,  claimed  the  glory 
of  the  victory,  but  continued  to  anticipate  fresh  attack  from  the 
foe,  who  still  hovered  around  his  entrenchments.  These  variances 
show  how  little  dependence  is  to  be  placed  on  historical  statements, 
where  national  vanity  or  interest  sway. 

Papers  on  the  person  of  Allen,  killed  in  the  fight,  were  said  to 
have  compromised  Desmond.  With  anxious  interest  as  to  the  event, 
with  lord  Kerry  he  had  watched  the  battle  from  a  neighboring  height. 
His  brothers  and  kinsfolk  were  among  the  combatants  ;  his  teri'itory 
had  been  lately  devastated  ;  he  had  suffered  other  grievous  wrong 
from  the  queen,  and  his  sympathies  were  naturally  all  with  his  own 
people.  But  his  only  son  was  hostage  for  his  peaceable  behavior ; 
he  could  not  justly  be  held  responsible  for  brothers  beyond  his  con- 
trol;  he  had  cautiously  avoided  himself  every  act  of  retaliation,  or 
word  of  resentment  at  which  umbrage  could  be  taken ;  when 
rudely  summoned  by  the  president  to  come  to  him,  former  acts  of 
treachery,  when  he  had  complied  with  like  orders,  warranted  his 
staying  away.  He  was  eager  to  obtain  intelligence  about  the  battle 
and  also  as  to  what  had  betided  his  friends,  and  he  wrote  the  next 
morning  to  Malbie,  inquiring  if  he  had  been  really  victorious. 

The  question  may  have  been  difficult  to  answer,    and  nettled  the 
56 


442 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


English  commander.  That  same  day  he  despatched  a  force  to  Eath- 
more,  a  castle  of  Desmond's  not  far  from  the  battle-field,  which  with 
the  town  was  sacked  and  valuable  documents  carried  away.  On 
the  sixth,  he  spoiled  Uathkeale,  burning  houses  and  corn,  and  the 
day  after  encamped  witliin  the  abbey  of  Askeaton.  He  defaced  the 
monuments  of  the  earl's  ancestors,  desecrating  the  sepulchre  of  his 
first  countess  Joanna,  fired  the  abbey,  town  and  corn  round-abouts, 
and  shot  at  the  w^arders  within  the  castle  walls.  On  the  tenth  Gerald 
wrote  Ormond  that  Malbie  had  broken  and  burnt  his  mother's  tomb, 
prayed  that  his  own  good  services,  enumerating  them,  might  be  cer- 
tified to  the  queen  and  the  council,  and  these  unauthorized  outrages 
be  punished.  Rumors  soon  spread  that  he  had  joined  the  rebels,  and  in 
a  letter  from  Sir  Owen  O'SuUivan  to  Leicester,  on  the  twenty-fifth, 
complaining  of  Humphrey  Gilbert,  whom  he  had  kindly  received, 
but  who  had  requited  his  hospitality  with  injury,  allusion  is  made  to 
them.  Owen  was  himself  obnoxious  to  suspicion,  for  his  brother 
Dermod  was  with  the  Geraldines. 

Ormond  had  been  instructed  to  seek  an  interview^  with  Desmond, 
and  it  took  place  on  the  thirtieth.  In  the  existing  relations  between 
them  the  pride  of  Gerald  was  not  likely  to  bend.  When  demanded, 
as  condition  of  immunity  for  past  transgressions,  restoration  of  his 
ancient  privileges  and  other  honorable  terms,  that  he  should  seize  and 
surrender  to  the  queen,  as  her  subject,  Dr.  Saunders,  his  friend  and 
ghostly  adviser,  his  reply,  like  one  of  Ormond's  later,  was  doubtless 
anticipated.  He  refused  to  betray  a  pious  clergyman  who  had  been 
driven  by  his  own  people  to  seek  refuge  with  the  pope,  and  been  at- 
tracted into  Ireland  by  its  sanctity  and  devotion  to  the  faith. 

Three  days  after  this  conference,  Pelhani,  the  new  lord  justice, 
marching  an  army  into  his  palatinate  issued  a  proclamation,  which 
Gormanstuwn  and  Delvin  refused  to  sign,  declaring  Gerald  a  traitor, 
and  appointed  Ormond,  his  hereditary  foe,  governor  of  IMunster. 
No  alternative  remained  for  Gerald  but  recourse  to  arms.     He  was 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  443 

buoyed  up  by  expectation  of  Spanish  aid,  and  that  the  catliohc  league 
so  termed  in  England  as  in  France  would  unite  in  a  general  rising. 
Possibly,  as  had  chanced  before  in  the  annals  of  his  race,  he  hoped 
to  procure  better  terms  by  prolonging  the  contest. 

He  knew  well  that  his  enemies  were  bent  upon  his  destruction,  and 
as  records  reveal,  that  officials  of  the  pale  were  ravening  for  his  spoils. 
Twelve  months  before,  when  the  lords  of  Munster  pledged  themselves 
to  defend  him  against  the  injustice  of  Drury  and  all  who  coveted  his 
inheritance,  he  had  conveyed  his  territory  to  trustees  for  his  lieirs  to 
prevent  its  forfeitiu-e.  Preferring  the  uncertainties  of  the  future  and 
fortunes  of  war,  to  the  humiliations  proposed  or  dangers  that  men- 
aced, without  farther  vacillation,  he  assumed  command  of  the 
Geraldines,  harried  Barry  and  Roche,  on  his  way  to  regain  possession 
of  his  castles.  After  three  days  siege,  at  Christmas,  aided  from 
within,  he  stormed  Youghal,  Dermod  (3'SulIivan,  Avith  six  hundred 
men  from  Bcare,  scaling  its  walls  and  overcoming  its  defenders. 
The  place  was  vigorously  disputed  and  the  besiegers  lost  one  hundred 
and  eighty  men.  Gold  and  silver  and  much  else  had  been  removed. 
What  belonged  to  the  earl  was  carried  to  Stracally  and  Lcfmonen 
the  castle  of  Sir  John  ;  rich  prey  fell  to  the  victors,  and  the  town 
w^as  burnt.  Ormond  invaded  Connello,  then  marched  to  Cork, 
sweeping  sad  havoc,  as  he  went  with  torch,  sword  and  halter, 
slaughtering  old  and  young,  sparing  no  Irish  or  catholic,  burning 
every  house  and  stack  of  corn,  till  the  land  was  bare  as  a  floor.  Re- 
turning south  he  sacked  and  burnt  Lefmonen  and  wasted  Coshbride 
and  all  Imokilly,  slaying  the  brother  of  its  seneschal.  In  Cork  he 
took  pledges  from  Clancai're,  Barry  Roche,  Courcy,  chiefs  of  Mus- 
kerry  and  Carbery,  O'Sullivan  Beare,  McDonoghue  and  Keefc,  and 
garrisoned  Kinsale.  His  soldiers  were  worn  with  travel,  sickly, 
without  money,  food,  or  garments.  He  contrived  to  seize  the  mayor 
of  Youghal,  who  had  helped  Desmond  to  that  place,  hanging  him  at 
his  own   door.      The  only  living   person    he  found  within  its  walls 


444  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

was  a  poor  friar,  who  had  brought  the  body  of  Davels  a  hundred 
miles  from  Tralee  to  give  it  christian  burial  at  Waterford. 

Early  in  the  spring,  Ormond  and  the  deputy  marched  through 
Desmond's  territory,  leaving  a  desert  where  they  passed.  They  met 
near  Tralee  and  laid  siege  to  Carrigafoyle,  garrisoned  by  nineteen 
Spaniards  and  fifty  Irishmen.  It  was  battered  down  by  five  thirty- 
six  pounders,  lauded  from  Winter's  fleet,  and  its  defenders  hung 
or  put  to  the  sword.  Alarmed  by  this  new  artillery  against  which 
stone  walls  were  no  protection,  the  neighboring  castles  of  Desmond 
were  abandoned,  Ballyloughan  being  first  destroyed,  but  the  attempt 
to  blow  up  Askeaton  happily  failed.  Pelham,  after  forty  days  at 
Limerick,  went  back  to  Askeaton,  occupied  with  putting  to  death 
sick  and  idiotic,  women  and  children.  Wall  blind  from  his  birth,  and 
Supple  a  hundred  years  old.  Well  might  he  write  the  queen  that 
all  Limerick  and  Kerry  were  in  rebellion.  Clancarre,  McCarthy 
Reagh,  Fitzmaurice,  even  Muskerry  at  these  horrors  became  disgust- 
ed and  disaffected.  Barry  entertained  John  and  James  Fitzgerald. 
O'Neils  and  O'Donnels  gathered  their  strength  and  Scots  poured  into 
Ulster. 

Ormond  left  Cashel  early  in  June,  and  proceeding  through  Kerry, 
losing  many  horses  and  men  on  his  march,  at  Castlemagne  met  Pel- 
ham,  who  crossing  the  mountains,  startled  Desmond,  his  wife  and 
Dr.  Saunders  in  their  covert.  They  barely  effected  their  escape, 
leaving  behind  them  cups  and  bells,  crosses  and  vestments,  with  their 
repast  untasted.  Desmond,  shattered  in  constitution  and  worn  out 
by  his  wanderings,  would  have  gladly  sought  reconciliation.  The 
countess  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  privy  council,  but  Ormond 
protested  against  any  mercy  being  shown.  With  Pelham  he  visited 
Dingle  and  Smerwick,  where,  the  previous  year,  Fitzmaurice  had 
landed,  soon  to  be  the  scene  of  memorable  carnage.  They  hastened 
home  on  tidings  of  impending  danger.  Baitinglas  and  the  catholics 
of  the  pale  were  in  arms.     Ormond  returned  to  Cork,  prevailing  on 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  445 

the  Munstcr  lords  to  join  liim,  and  applied  for  pardon  for  tlicm  all 
but  Desmond.  James  Sussex,  in  August,  marauding  in  Muskcrry, 
was  waylaid  and  captured  by  Cormac  its  chief,  and  surrendered  to 
Ealeigh  at  Cork,  after  imprisonment  for  a  mouth,  was  hung  and 
quartered  at  the  gates  of  that  city. 

In  August,  1580,  lord  Grey  de  AVilton,  later  one  of  the  com- 
missioners that  condemned  Mary  queen  of  Scots,  at  Fothering- 
gay,  and  who  justified  her  execution,  landed  as  lord  deputy,  and 
proceeded  at  once  into  AVicldow  to  attack  the  O'Byrnes,  who  with 
Cavanaghs,  O'Tooles,  one  of  the  Fitzgeralds  of  Kildare  and  Eustace, 
lord  of  Baltinglas,  Avere  in  arms.  The  van  of  his  army  fell  into 
ambuscade  in  the  pass  of  Glenmalure.  This  pass  between  high  hills 
covered  with  heavy  growth  and  thicket,  in  the  county  of  Wicklow 
and  about  twenty-five  miles  from  the  capital,  was  boggy  and  full  of 
slippery  stones.  Grey  and  Kildare,  Wingfield  and  his  nephew 
George  Carew,  a  kinsman  of  the  claimant  of  Idrone,  remained  on  a 
Avoody  eminence  at  the  mouth  of  the  glen,  with  a  portion  of  the 
army,  whilst  the  rest  entered  its  gates.  Their  progress  was  slow, 
for  the  way  was  difficult,  and  when  they  had  penetrated  half  a  mile, 
volleys  all  around  from  an  unseen  foe  against  whom  they  could 
make  no  resistance,  thinned  their  ranks.  Thrown  into  confusion  the 
Irish  poured  down  upon  them  in  overwhelming  numbers,  despatching 
them  with  spear  and  skein.  Wingfield  realizing  the  danger  had  en- 
deavored to  keep  back  Peter  Carew,  heir  of  his  cousin,  from  entering 
the  defile,  but  without  success,  and  now  in  heavy  armor,  Avhich  em- 
barrassed his  flight,  he  fell  exhausted  and  was  speedily  slain.  More, 
Audley  and  Cosby  the  tyi'ant  of  Leix,  shared  the  same  fate.  Few 
escaped,  and  the  deputy,  crest  fallen  and  dismayed,  retreated  in  all 
haste  to  Dublin.  This  black  day  for  the  defeated  was  a  bright  one 
for  the  conquerors,  and  the  Irish  catholics  were  greatly  encouraged. 
Among  those  saved  from  the  catastr(jphe  was  George  Carew,  brother 
to  Peter,  afterwards  president  of  jSIunster,  who  was  held  back  from 


446  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

entering  the  pass  by  his  uncle.  By  his  vigorous  administration  and 
collection  of  documents  relating  to  it,  preserved  at  Lambeth,  his 
name  is  conspicuously  associated  with  Irish  history.  Grey  had  little 
time  allowed  him  to  lament  his  disaster.  Alarming  tidings  from  the 
west  called  him  in  that  direction. 

Winter  leaving  the  coast  to  reiit,  Sebastian  San  Josefo  landed  in 
August,  at  Smerwick,  with  seven  hundred  Spaniards,  sending  back 
his  vessels  for  more.  He  brought  money  and  arms  for  five  thousand 
men,  inspiring  the  Geraldines  with  sanguine  expectations,  which  de- 
rived additional  encouragement  from  Glenmalure.  Ormond  led  his 
troops  to  attack  Fort  del  Oro,  as  the  Smerwick  rock  was  now  called, 
which  had  been  greatly  strengthened  by  Spanish  engineers.  A  sally 
drove  him  off,  and  he  marched  back  to  Rathkeale,  where  Grey  joined 
him  with  eight  hundred  men.  After  they  started  for  Corcaguiney, 
Raleigh  lingered  behind,  not  in  vain,  to  catch  any  rebels  that  accord- 
ing to  wont  might  be  attracted  to  the  abandoned  camp  by  curiosity, 
or  for  spoil.  A  kern  with  withes  in  his  hand,  being  asked  to  what 
use  they  were  to  be  j)ut,  replied  to  hang  Englishmen,  whereupon, 
Raleigh  hung  him. 

Sebastian,  summoned  to  surrender,  replied  disdainfully  that  Ireland 
had  been  granted  to  his  king  by  the  pope,  and  he  sliould  hold  what 
he  had  and  get  more  if  he  could.  Guns  from  the  fleets  of  Bingham 
and  Winter,  now  back,  battered  for  three  days  at  the  walls,  when  the 
place  being  small  and  without  water,  on  the  ninth  of  November,  a 
white  flag  was  displayed  for  parley.  The  interpreter  is  said  to  have 
deceived  the  Spaniards,  who  understood  that  their  lives  were  to  be 
spared.  This  the  victors  deny,  and  say  that  from  the  first,  the  be- 
sieged were  refused  any  protection  from  the  usages  of  war  or  law  of 
nations,  that  they  had  no  commission  to  show  when  demanded,  and 
as  allies  of  rebels  they  were  not  lawful  enemies,  or  entitled  to  any 
terms  better  than  unconditional  surrender. 

In  the  morning,  troops  under  Raleigh  and  Macworth  took  posses- 


TKANSFER      OF      ERIN.  447 

sion.  Either  by  them  or  by  sailors,  who  entered  independently  from 
the  water,  the  garrison,  from  five  to  seven  hundred  in  number,  were 
slaughtered.  Grey,  wliosc  reputation  among  the  catholics  for  good 
fiiith  suffered  from  his  alleged  perfidy  on  this  occasion,  admits  to  the 
queen  the  massacre  was  by  his  orders.  In  her  reply  she  regrets  that 
their  lives  had  not  been  left  to  her  justice  or  mercy.  An  army  af 
four  thousand  men  under  Desmond  to  relieve  the  place  had  been 
hourly  expected.  Grey  Avas  smarting  under  his  recent  defeat  at 
Glenmalure.  His  temper  sour  and  puritanical,  tinctured  by  no 
elements  of  amiability,  he  took  to  himself  no  reproach  for  what  he 
conceived  as  timely  severity.  Kaleigh,  MacAvorth  and  the  subor- 
dinates, who  took  part,  should  be  judged  by  the  inhumanities  of  the 
times,  the  ways  of  warfare  prevailing,  which  were  cruel  and  merci- 
less. Edmund  Spenser,  there  as  secretary  to  Grey,  defended  his 
course.  Besides  the  poet  and  Raleigh,  there  was  present  a  son  of 
Sir  John  Cheeke,  famous  as  professor  of  Greek,  another  scholar  of 
repute  at  the  time,  though  of  less  celebrity  later,  who  was  slain  in 
the  attack. 

The  whole  country,  except  Ulster,  Avhich  enjoyed  a  brief  respite  of 
repose,  was  up  in  anus.  The  sons  of  Clanrickard,  one  year  before, 
fraternally  disposed,  fighting  together  at  Monasternena  against  the 
Geraldines,  were  again  at  strife  between  themselves.  They  both 
hated  the  intruders  on  their  paternal  inheritance,  more  than  each 
other  as  competitors  for  its  succession.  John  proffered  implicit 
obedience  to  his  elder  brother  Ulick,  and  surrender  of  Leitrim, 
Baltinlough  and  all  claim  to  Loughrea,  the  principal  residence  of  the 
earls,  in  acknowledgment  of  seniority,  if  he  would  render  his  assist- 
ance in  expelling  them  from  the  family  dominions.  Ulick  readily 
consented,  and  they  demolished  the  white  castles  of  Clanrickard,  not 
sparing  Loughrea  or  scarcely  another  from  Clonfert  to  Kiltartan, 
from  Leitrim  to  Oban.  O'Briens,  all  but  the  young  earl  Donogh, 
who  that  year  succeeded  his  father,  now  after  twenty-two  years  of 


448  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

troubled  rule,  finishing  his  course  at  the  early  age  of  forty-five,  and 
Turlogh,  who  had  shortly  before  succeeded  Sir  Donald  as  lord  of 
Ennistimmond  and  sheriff  of  Clare,  marshalled  tlieir  men.  In  1581 
the  Burkes  agreed  to  peace,  on  condition  that  there  should  be  no  tax, 
fine  or  other  servitude  imposed  upon  their  country  or  their  allies,  they 
paying  certain  specified  rents  twice  a  year  to  the  crown. 

O'lvourke  tlie  proud,  set  at  defiance  Malbie,  destroyed  his  castle 
of  Leitrim,*  that  it  might  not  harbor  the  foe,  and  when  Malbie  had 
done  him  the  good  service,  not  intended,  of  rebuilding  it,  compelled 
him  to  remove  his  warders.  Calling  to  his  aid  his  neighbors,  the 
O'Connors  of  Connaught,  they  raided  O'Naghtan  near  Athlone,  and 
in  December  devastated  Hy-Many,  slaying  the  garrison  of  Lisdalon, 
w^here  Hugh  last  chieftain  of  the  O'Kellys,  whose  rule  and  life  ended 
five  years  afterwards,  made  his  abode. 

In  Leinsterthe  catholics,  greatly  encouraged  by  their  recent  victory, 
swept  havoc  where  they  could,  and  Dunlaingj-  last  inaugurated  chief 
but  one  of  the  O'Byrnes  plundered  the  pale  up  to  the  gates  of  the 
capital.  Grey,  surrounded  by  disaffection,  knew  not  in  whom  to 
place  trust.  The  catholic  leaders  of  English  race  were  sent  to  the 
tower.  Nugent  and  forty-four  more  were  executed ;  Kildare  and 
Delvin  put  under  arrest,  and  as  already  related  sent  to  London. 
Wheat  was  twenty-five  shillings  the  quarter,  the  war  had  already 
made  havoc  of  the  army,  and  though  the  queen  counselled  the  deputy 
to  be  tolerant  in  matters  of  religion,  his  temper  not  conciliatory,  fret- 
ted by  his  embarrassments,  rendered  his  task  diflScult. 

John  of  Desmond,  deprived  of  the  command  when  his  brother,  the 

*  There  were  two  Leitrimf5,  one  a  bai'ony  of  Clanrlckard  in  Galway,  from  which  John 
Burke  took  his  title  of  baron.  The  country  of  tlie  O'Rourkes  farther  north  lay  east  of  the 
Shannon  and  constitutes  the  present  county  of  the  name. 

t  Descended  from  Cahir  More  of  the  second  century.  Five  of  the  line  were  kings  of 
Leinster  before  the  English  invasion.  Their  dominion  as  that  of  the  O'Tooles  at  the  time 
embraced  large  portions  of  Kildare,  but  they  subsequently  dwelt  in  the  mountains  of  Wick- 
low,  or  by  the  sea.  Dunlamg,  twenty-seventh  from  Cahir  More,  had  two  sons  whose  descend- 
ants shared  alternately  in  the  chicftainry,  Dunlaing  in  the  text  of  the  elder  line  being  in  the 
thirteenth  generation  from  his  namesake;  Fiagh  his  successor  in  the  fifteenth  of  the  j'ounger 
line.  Fiagh  was  son  of  Hugh  of  Glenmalure,  who  invited  treacherously  to  a  conference 
in  1579,  by  the  seneschal  of  Wexford,  had  been  there  put  to  death  with  a  hundred  of  his 
youth  and  kinsfolk. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  449 

earl,  throwing-  off  his  allegiance  assumed  it,  had  not  been  idle.  "Whilst 
Gerald,  in  Jidy,  1580,  was  hiding  in  the  mountains,  out  of  health  and 
despondent,  he  entered  the  woods  of  Aherlow,  four  miles  south  of 
Tipperar}',  with  less  than  one  hundred  shields  and  but  thirteen  horse- 
men. The  Fogartys  opposed  him,  but  eighteen  chiefs  of  that  name 
paid  with  their  lives  for  their  temerity.  Gilpatricks,  O'Conors  of 
OiFaly,  Moores  and  Carrols,  his  kinsmen,  gathered  to  his  call,  and  he 
had  soon  an  organized  army.  Sleeping  on  the  cold  ground,  with  a 
stone  for  his  pillow,  roasting  his  meat  on  twigs  by  his  bivouac  fire, 
and  drinking  from  the  palms  of  his  hands  water  from  the  mountain 
streams,  he  proceeded  to  wreak  his  resentment  on  the  Butlers. 
Abbey  Leix,  Maryborough,  seven  castles  in  a  day,  were  given  to  the 
flames,  and  horses,  arms  and  armor  procured  for  his  followers. 
Joining  at  Glenmalure  the  conquerors  of  the  deputy,  they  spoiled 
Leinster  and  Meath,  and  defeating  the  garrison  of  Kilmallock,  which 
came  out  to  intercept  their  progress  on  their  way  to  meet  Eustace, 
marched  west  too  late  for  the  relief  of  Smerwick.  AVith  his  brother, 
Eustace  and  Grace,  Sir  John  attempted,  at  Bongonder,  to  waylay 
Ormond  on  his  march  from  Cork,  who  hurrying  to  reinforce  the  dep- 
uty avoided  an  engagement. 

In  May,  he  crossed  the  Suir,  destroying  Ardmayle  and  the  monas- 
tery of  Athassel,  and  at  Lismore  defeated  a  regiment  of  redcoats 
from  Berwick,  that  color  having  already  been  adopted  for  English 
soldiers.  AVIiilst  collecting  the  spoils  he  was  overtaken  by  a  numer- 
ous force,  three  hundred  of  whom  fell  in  the  combat.  A  few  weeks 
later  he  marched  into  Kerry  to  take  vengeance  on  the  MacCarthies, 
spoiling  from  Muskerry  to  Iveragh  and  driving  his  prey  into  Magun- 
nihy.  Not  all  the  Eoghanacht  sided  with  Clancarre.  The  chief  of 
Duhallow,  Owen  son  of  Donogh,  died  prisoner  of  the  queen,  as  also 
James  Barry  ]More*  closely  allied  to  them.      Owen  O'Sullivan  Beare 

*  James  d.  1-581,  was  frrnndson  of  John,  s.  of  William  k.  by  his  brother  David,  archdea- 
con of  Cork  and  Clovne  in  1493,  s.  of  Thomas  who  paid  homage  to  Edgecombe,  1488,  s.  of 
John  d.  1483,  s.  of  William,  s.  of  James,  s.  of  John  d.  1402,  s.  of  David,  s.  of  David  d, 

57 


450  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

was  kept  under  guard  of  Fitton  at  Dunboy.  The  sept  under  IiIs 
brother  and  nephew  took  an  active  part  with  the  Geraldines. 
Zouche,  left  by  Grey  in  charge  of  Kerry,  on  his  way  to  Cork  sent  a 
force  from  Carbery  under  Turlogh  Mac  Sweeny  and  Dermot 
O'Donovan  to  plunder  Donal,  nephew  of  Owen  and  next  in  suc- 
cession to  the  chieftainship.  Donal  overtook  them  with  their 
spoil  neaj'  the  monastery  of  Bantry,  and  though  inferior  in  numbers, 
in  a  warmly  contested  engagement  defeated  them,  slaying  several  hun- 
dred, and  among  them  Dermod  son  of  Donal  lord  of  castle  Donovan, 
It  was  a  partisan  warfare,  and  the  incidents  often  bear  close  resem- 
blance to  what  Froissart  relates  of  the  free  lances  of  France  two 
centuries  before.  A  considerable  force  of  English  soldiers  from 
Adare  sallied  forth  for  fight  or  booty,  and  caring  little  whom  they 
despoiled,  David  Oge  Purcel,  who  had  done  good  service  for  the 
queen  throughout  the  war,  suffered  from  their  depredations »  David 
and  his  people  fell  upon  the  plunderers  and  left  them  ^  a  heap  of 
bloody  carcasses."  Akin,  their  captain,  learning  what  had  bechanced,, 
proceeded  forthwith  in  force  to  Ballycallane,  a  castle  once  of  the 
O'Cathlains,  then  Purcells,  and  not  finding  David  at  home,  killed  all 
who  were  there,  within  or  without,  and  with  them  one  hundred  audi 
fifty  women  and  children.  David,  not  long  after,  with  sixteen  mert 
crossed  the  Shannon  from  Kenry  to  Scattery.  Turlogh  Mac  IMahoUy 
from  east  Corkavaskin  on  the  c.orth  shore  of  the  river,  entertaining 
some  grudge  against  him,  sailed  over  to  the  island,  and  set  fire  to  the 
house  in  which  he  and  his  followers  were  sleeping.  They  rushed 
out  unarmed,  and  speedily  overpowered  he  hung  them  all  but  David, 
who,  sent  to  Limerick,  was  put  to  def^th.     Similar  incidents  about 

1317,  s.  of  David,  s.  of  Jolin,  s,  of  Lawrence,  first  lord  of  Ibavvne  and  Barry  Roe  (now  or 
late  in  the  faniily),  s.  of  William  and  Joan.d.of  second  Kerry,  s.  of  DavidOj^e,son  of  David 
tirst  visconnt  Biittevant.d.  1'278,  s.  of  David  k.  1262,  s,  of  Robert,  son  of  Philip,  brother  of 
Robert  k.  at  Lismore  118-5,  and  of  Geraldus  Cambrcnsis  the  author,  who  were  sona 
of  William  and  Angaret,  daughter  of  Nesta  and  sister  of  Robert  Fitzstephen  and  Maurije 
Fitzgerald  ancestor  of  the  Geraldiucs.  David  s.  of  James  aiid  Ellen  d.  of  Corniac  McCarthy 
Reagli,  paid  a  fine  of  five  hundred  pounds,  and  becoming  loyal  to  the  crown  d.  in  1617,  and 
liis  grand^on  and  successor  David,  1605-1642,  first  earl  Barrymore,  m  Alice  Boyle,  d.  first 
earl  of  Cork.    Upon  the  death  of  the  eighth  earl  ia  1824  the  title  became  ex^tijQi.et, 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  451 

the  country  suggest  to  an  official  writing  home,  resemblances  this 
desultory  warfare  bore  to  the  national  sport  of  fox-hunting.  It  may 
have  been  animating,  but  it  was  attended  with  atrocities  unparalleled. 

Desmond,  now  lurking:  in  irlen  and  forest,  now  at  the  head  of 
considerable  armaments,  wasting  and  destroying,  ranging  through 
Kerry  and  Limerick,  one  day  at  Cork  and  then  knocking  at  the  gates 
of  the  capital,  baffled  pursuit.  In  May,  1581,  with  Barry,  Imokilly 
and  Condon  he  invaded  Decies,  one  of  his  southern  tributary  prov- 
inces, burnt  thirty-six  toAvns  and  carried  oif  seven  thousand  kine. 
A  few  weeks  later  whilst  encamped  at  Glen  Aghadoe  near  Killarney, 
Avith  two  thousand  men,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  surprised  by 
Zouche  with  a  smaller  force.  His  army  had  been  weakened  by  de- 
tachments sent  to  scour  the  neighborhood,  that  Clancarre  feeling  his 
strength  might  yield  to  its  pressure  and  join  the  strife.  All  were  sleep- 
ing, when  one  Sunday  morning,  before  day  break,  Zouche  stealthily 
approached.  Sentinels  off  their  guard  were  dispatched  by  concerted 
arrangement  at  their  posts,  and  much  mischief  done  before  the 
camp  startled  from  its  slumbers.  Desmond  made  what  disposition 
the  confusion  allowed,  but  the  captain  not  waiting  for  an  engagement 
slipped  away  in  the  darkness,  dragging  off  women  and  children.  Pur- 
suit rescued  the  captives,  but  the  troopers,  too  well  mounted  to  be 
overtaken,  reached  Castlemaine. 

In  September  the  earl  marched  down  to  the  plains  of  Cashel,  pil- 
laging that  city  audits  neighborhood,  obtaining  what  his  army  much 
needed,  horses,  cattle,  clothing,  iron  and  copper.  Troops  from  the 
neighboring  garrisons  of  Cahir  and  Moyalif,  hastily  assembled,  were 
dispatched  to  oppose  him.  They  avoided  an  ambuscade  he  had  pre- 
pared to  entrap  them,  but  attacked  in  the  open  field  were  badly  cut 
up  and  four  hundred  of  them  slain.  Sir  John  at  Christmas  removed 
from  the  castle  of  Kilfeacle  near  Tipperary  whatever  it  contained  of 
value,  and  demolished  it. 

Desmond  looked  for  aid  from  abroad,  and  also  from  O'Neil.     Un- 


452  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

happily  for  his  cause,  complications  at  home  between  the  great  cliiefs 
of  Ulster,  notwithstanding  their  various  ties  of  blood  and  affinity  very 
like  his  own  and  Ormonds,  deprived  him  at  this  critical  moment 
of  succor  from  that  quarter.  Con  and  John  Oge,  sous  of  Shane 
O'NeU  by  Julia  countess  of  Argyle,  had  plundered  east  Brenny. 
Philip  O'Reilly,  son  of  its  aged  chief,  recovered  the  prey,  capturing 
Con  and  killing  his  brother.  Turlogh  in  revenge  compelled  Con's 
liberation  without  ransom,  and  erick  for  John.  Soon  after,  with  Con 
O'Donnel  at  feud  with  his  uncle  Hugh,  chief  of  Tyrconnel,  Turlogh 
encamped  at  Raphoe  with  a  numerous  army.  Hugh  from  friendly 
relations  with  the  English  government  had  lost  popularity  with  his 
people,  but  mustered  what  force  he  could  to  drive  out  the  invaders. 

As  Hugh,  on  the  fourth  of  July,  1581,  drew  near,  O'Neil  in- 
quired of  Con  and  Turlogh  Mac  Sweeny,  what  they  thought  would  be 
the  result  of  the  combat  ?  Turlogh  answered  that  if  the  Kinel  Konnel 
drew  breath  or  drank  water,  or  in  other  words  took  time  to  advance 
leisurely  and  in  order,  they  would  gain  the  day.  But  that  they  did 
not.  Confident  of  victory  they  rushed  on  tumultuously.  The  bat- 
tle was  desperately  contested,  as  when  kinsmen  are  opposed,  and 
after  heavy  loss  they  were  badly  defeated.  Mac  Sweenys  fell  on 
either  side,  O'Gallaghers  and  O'Boyles  on  Hugh's.  The  abbot  of 
Kilmacrenan  attributed  the  issue  to  his  imprecation  on  the  O'Don- 
nels,  who  had  despoiled  his  abbey  on  their  way  to  the  battle  field. 
The  deputy  hastened  to  the  relief  of  Hugh,  ordering  Malbie  up 
from  Connaught  to  meet  him.  Early  in  August  he  made  peace  with 
Turlogh  at  the  Blackwater,  and  returned  vexed  with  Dungannon  for 
not  delivering  up  to  him  William  Nugent.  Not  long  after  Turlogh 
with  twenty-five  hundred  men  went  into  Sligo  threatening  Malbie. 

Taking  advantage  of  this  confusion  the  sons  of  lord  Kerry  effected 
their  escape  from  Limerick  castle.  Their  father,  iritated  at  the  de- 
vastation of  his  territory,  entered  into  their  plans,  destroying  Lixnaw, 
Listovvel  and  other  fc^rtresses.     William  O'Carrol,  released  from  the 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  45  3 

tower  upon  pledge  of  ;illc<^iance,  fell  victim  to  the  hatred  of  his  elan 
towards  the  rulers  of  the  pale  and  all  who  favored  them. 

Envy,  jealousy,  personal  animosities,  and  more  than  all  else, 
greed  for  land  and  gain,  color  the  official  correspondence  of  the  pe- 
riod, crippled  the  government,  heli)ed  the  catholics.  Malbie, 
Wallop,  Waterhouse,  St.  Leger,  maligned  not  only  each  other, 
Desmond  and  Kildare,  but  Ormond  came  in  for  a  large  share  of  their 
tergiversation.  Raleigh  wrote  Walsingham,  that  Ormond  had  been 
two  years  lord  general  of  Munster,  and  there  were  a  thousand  more 
traitors  than  at  his  coming.  Ilis  brother  Gilbert  had  ended  a  rebel- 
lion not  nnich  inferior  in  two  months,  and  he  recommended  him  for 
the  place.  St.  Leger  represented  that  Ormond  lost  twenty  English- 
men for  one  rebel  slain.  In  a  letter  to  the  deputy  the  queen  says 
that  Ormond  had  promised  a\  ith  three  hundred  men  to  put  down 
Desmond,  and  with  fifteen  hundred  nothing  had  been  done.  Ormond 
replied  that  he  had  warded  the  castles  of  Barry  Roe,  but  that  David 
Barry  cwnplained  that  Raleigh  and  St.  Leger,  then  in  command  at 
Cork,  hjKl  procured  warrant  to  kill  him  and  garrison  Barry  Court, 
Castle  Lyons  and  the  other  strongholds  of  his  father,  and  driven  him 
into  rebellion.  lie  further  stated  that  five  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
prominent  personages  and  four  thousand  of  the  connnon  sort  had 
perished  through  his  means.  It  was  not  enough.  He  was  thought 
too  lenient  and  recalled,  and  going  over  to  court  regained  the  royal 
favor,  which  rarely  withstood  his  personal  influence. 

Cruelty  did  not  propitiate  the  L-isli.  David  Barry  burnt  his  father's 
castles,  lest  Raleigh  should  possess  them.  His  three  brothers-in-law, 
Roche,  Fynnen  and  Donnel  McCarthy  and  Philip  O'Sullivan  with  a 
force  of  six  hundred  men  joined  him,  "  becoming  Robin  Hoods."  Arch- 
bishop Magrath  of  Cashel  in  March  reported  that  Clancarre,  all  the 
O'SuUivans  and  McCarthy  Reagh  were  disaffected.  AValsh  urged 
that  the  cause  w^as  not  religion,  but  cess.  Both  were  operating,  but 
in  different  deirrees  in  ditferent  minds.     In  the  death  of  the  estima- 


454  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

ble  prelate,  Dr.  Saunders,  the  papal  nuncio,  the  former  lost  strength. 
Devout  and  indefatigable,  disease  contracted  from  exposure  and  pri- 
vations in  his  wanderings,  as  the  spring  opened,  brought  what  must 
have  been  a  welcome  release,  and  four  leading  catholic  warriors  per- 
formed his  funeral  obsequies  at  dead  of  night  in  the  forest,  away  from 
observation.  Sensitiveness  at  indignities  to  the  dead  tended  to  pro- 
voke them,  and  secret  burials  of  the  eminent  constituted  a  frequent 
experience  of  those  troubled  times. 

War,  pestilence  and  famine  stalked  about  the  land,  claiming  innu- 
merable victims,  thirty  thousand  perishing  from  disease  alone.  It 
was  hardly  necessary,  as  Wallop  wished,  that  the  survivors  "  should 
cut  each  other's  throats,  that  better  might  be  planted  in  their  stead." 
Impoverishment  reigned  in  castle  as  in  cot  or  covert.  Andrew 
Trollope  relates  "  that  Clancarre  and  Kerry  came  to  Dublin  in  Septem- 
ber, who  for  all  their  bravery,  wore  but  russet  mantles,  leathern 
jerkins  and  brogues,  not  worth  a  noble.  At  night  all  ages  and  both 
sexes  slept  in  one  small  apartment,  and  in  the  morning  shook  their 
heads  and  went  their  ways  without  prayer  or  toilet.  They  had  not 
always  meat,  and  lived  on  the  three  leaved  shamrock,  and  would  have 
starved  but  for  food  sent  out  from  England.  He  considers  the  Irish, 
judfyinf  from  his  own  standards  of  course,  and  blind  to  the  faults 
common  to  all,  and  of  which  his  own  race  had  a  few,  as  not  christians, 
but  savao'cs,  as  lately  at  Dublin  they  had  planned  to  cut  the  throats 
of  all  Englishmen.  The  church  bells  rang,  but  their  was  no  service. 
Loftus,  the  archbishop  of  Dublin,  had  many  daughters  to  marry,  and 
sharino-  the  profits  of  the  faculty  commission,  was  thought  to  have 
hud  too  easy  a  conscience,  and  even  good  bishop  Brady  the  report 
char^-es  with  some  foibles  not  in  character  with  his  cloth." 

Zouche,  now  governor  of  Munster,  with  Raleigh  and  Dowdal 
wintered  at  Cork  marauding  as  opportunity  offered.  Raleigh  with 
ninety  men  made  a  perilous  expedition  to  Castletown  and  brought 
back  \Yith  him  lord  Roche  and  his  wife,  who  professing  allegiance 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  455 

were  soon  alloweJ  to  go  home.  Provoked,  possibly  at  this  unex- 
pected defection,  Barry  and  the  seneschal  of  Imokilly  raided  Fernioy, 
when  some  dispute  led  to  estrangement,  and  their  respective  forces 
separating  confronted  each  other  near  the  Blackwater  in  angry 
menace.  The  earl  and  his  brother  lay  north  of  the  river  in  the 
country  of  their  foithful  ally,  Patrick  Condon,  and  alarmed  at  their 
quarrel,  John  went  at  once  to  make  peace.  Dowdal  informed  by  a 
spy  of  his  intention,  started  with  Zouchc  early  in  tlie  morning,  on 
the  fifth  of  January,  1582,  as  if  for  Limerick,  and  at  Castle  Lyons 
learned  that  lord  Barry  had  just  before  departed  for  the  conference. 
Disappointed  in  not  meeting  John  on  the  usual  route  to  the  place 
appointed,  they  laid  in  wait  in  the  woods,  through  which  they  hoped 
he  might  pass. 

John  with  eight  followers  had  crossed  the  mountains  of  Drumfinen, 
and  the  evening  air  refreshing  after  his  noontide  ride,  dismounted  as 
did  his  companions,  who,  thinking  the  English  far  off,  moved  unsus- 
pectingly along,  leading  their  horses.  Suddenly  their  attention  was 
attracted  by  the  appearance  of  Zouche  and  Dowdal  whom  they  per- 
ceived rapidly  approaching  towards  them  with  sixty  troopers.  All 
immediately  mounted,  except  John,  who  usually  the  most  skili'ul 
of  them  all,  of  great  courage  and  strength,  and  peculiarly  cool  upon 
sudden  emergencies,  to  whom,  to  leap  to  the  back  of  his  horse  ordi- 
narily would  have  been  an  easy  affair,  was  at  the  moment  too  much 
overpowered  by  fatigue  ;  and  when  his  steed,  generally  docile  and 
well  trained,  became  restive,  plunged  and  reared,  lashing  with  his 
feet,  he  found  it  impossible  to  mount.  Ordering  his  men  to  leave 
him  he  bade  them  farewell,  saying  his  fated  day  had  come.  They 
started  for  the  covert,  but  his  kinsman,  James  Fitzgerald  of  Srou- 
.cally,  turned  back  refusing  to  desert  "  the  bravest  of  men,  under 
iwhose  lead  they  had  so  often  conquered  their  unbelieving  foe,  and 
by  whose  hand  so  many  had  fallen  ;  he  should  not  die  alone  ;  they 
pliad  often  followed   him  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and   he  at 


456  TRANSFER      OF      ERIX. 

least  would  be  his  companion  in  death."  Thus  speaking  or  thinking, 
he  dismounted,  and  on  foot,  near  John,  who  was  mortally  wounded 
at  the  first  onset  by  their  assailants,  they  both  fell,  preferring  to  die 
rather  than  surrender.  James  recovered  of  his  wounds  to  perish  on 
the  scaffold. 

What  was  expected  to  result  from  killing  John,  may  be  measured 
by  the  general  exultation  at  his  death  ;  the  five  hundred  pounds  set 
upon  his  head.  Before  the  month  ended.  Grey  begged  for  his  estate. 
Propositions  for  reducing  the  army  to  three  thousand  men,  on(!  third 
of  its  number  six  months  before,  AVallop  opposed,  as  likely  to  lead 
to  a  general  massacre,  not  twenty  Irishmen  being  friendly.  Barry 
with  Mac  Sweeny,  gained  a  victory  in  Carbery  and  another  over 
Fitton  constable  of  Bearhaven,  whose  army  enticed  from  the  abbey  of 
Bantry  was  annihilated,  and  himself,  after  three  days  hiding  among 
the  mountains,  barely  escaping  to  Dunboy  with  his  life. 

In  April  the  three  sons  of  lord  Kerry  entered  Ardfert  and  slew 
the  commander  of  the  place,  and  w^hilst  besieging  the  garrison,  their 
father,  who  had  seen  much  military  service  on  the  continent  in  his 
early  life,  joined  them.  Zouche  approaching  in  force,  they  withdrew 
into  the  woods.  Desmond  came  to  their  aid,  and  returning  they  de- 
feated the  English.  The  few  survivors  found  their  way  back  to 
Cork,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  year  throughout  the  western  territory  of 
the  Geraldincs  not  a  soldier  remained.  The  warders  were  removed 
from  Limerick,  and  Owen  O'Sullivan  set  free  at  Dunboy. 

Desmond,  "  stronger  than  ever  before,"  occupied  Aherlow  and  the 
region  from  Kilmallockto  Castle  Lyons,  raiding  the  Butlers  as  occa- 
sion presented.  The  country  uncultivated  lay  waste,  "  not  the  lowing 
of  cow  or  voice  of  ploughman  heard  in  all  Munster  from  Dun- 
quin  to  Cashel."  In  April,  Condon  and  Imokilly  slew  four  sons  of 
lord  Roche  and  their  men,  till  only  fourteen  were  left  able  to  bear 
arms  in  Fermoy,  which  was  nearly  depopulated.  In  June,  the  sons 
and  brothers  of  Ormond  gathered  what  force  they  could,  horse  and 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  457 

foot,  at  Fcthnrd,  and  niarclied  to  Knocgraflon  in  pursuit  of  the  carl, 
who  turned  upou  aud  defeated  tliein  with  great  slaughter,  Colla 
Mac  Sweeny,  chief  constable  of  the  Butlers,  falling  with  tlie  rest. 

But  the  allies  of  the  Geraldines  were  wearying  of  this  continual 
strife.  David  Barry,  since  the  death  of  hisfvther  viscount  Buttevant, 
purchased  peace  by  payment  of  five  hundred  ])ounds  ;  Kerry  came 
in  with  his  sons,  and  Donogh  son  of  jNIac-I-Brian-ara.  Desmond 
who  had  had  the  war  forced  upon  him  and  been  always  disposed  to 
reasonable  terms  of  reconciliation,  tliinking  the  moment  propitious, 
sent  his  wife  to  Dublin  to  propose  a  settlement.  Her  humble  sup- 
plications to  be  permitted  to  go  over  to  the  queen  were  however 
rejected,  the  terms  he  demanded  considered  inadmissible,  and  uncon- 
ditional surrender  insisted  upon.  Praying  that  her  son  Gerald,  then  at 
Dublin,  might  be  sent  across  to  London  to  be  educated,  she  returned 
disappointed  to  her  husband.  He  was  forced  to  fight  on.  In  the 
autumn  while  in  Kerry,  his  men  foraging  in  Pobble-0-Keefe  were 
pursued  by  its  chieftain  Art  witli  his  clan.  Gerald  fell  upon  them  as 
they  approached  his  camp  and  defeated  them,  taking  Art  and  his  sou 
captive. 

Grey  bettered  his  mstructions.  His  faith  of  that  sterner  sort, 
not  unlike  the  great  protector's,  drew  its  inspiration  rather  from  the 
contention  and  carnage  of  holy  writ,  than  fr<Jm  its  gentler  precepts. 
O'Molloy,  lord  of  Fircall,  and  chief  justice  Nugent  fell  victims  to  his 
suspicious  temper.  Owing  to  his  cruelties  the  queen  grew  impatient 
lest  nothino;  should  be  left  in  Munster  for  her  to  rule  over  but  ashes 
and  carcasses.  He  did  not  relish  his  task,  and  longed  to  be  recalled. 
Both  races  felt  equal  relief  with  himself,  when  early  in  September, 
1582,  he  surrendered  the  sword  to  archbishop  Loftus  and  Wallop, 
as  lords  justices,  and  disappeared. 

Elena,  still  at  Dublin  when  that  month  came  to  a  close,  besought 
to  be  allowed  to  remain  a  few  days  longer,  in  the  hope  that  the 
queen  might  relent.  She  implored  that  her  three  daughters,  Mar- 
58 


458  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

garet,  Joanna  and  Catharine,  with  her  son  Gerald,  might  be  taken 
under  protection  and  educated,  but  Elizabeth,  ruled  by  Ormond, 
proved  inexorable.  Desmond  with  a  considerable  force  of  cavalry  and 
two  thousand  men,  represented  by  Fenton  as  "stronger  than  ever," 
employed  his  October  in  gathering  the  harvests.  He  threatened  to 
overrun  Carbery,  portions  of  which  had  already  been  granted  to 
St.  Leger,  whilst  Imokilly  sacked  Ormond's  castle  of  Carrig,  and 
laid  waste  Waterford.  Thomas  Norris  who  had  succeeded  Zouche 
in  the  nominal  rule  of  Munster,  was  powerless  to  resist  with  his  rem- 
nant of  an  army.  Loftus  exhorted  Burleigh  to  comfort  a  people 
perishing  with  famine,  by  withdrawing  the  soldiers  and  pardoning 
Desmond,  who  had  intimated  to  St.  Leger  his  peaceable  disposition. 
The  earl  was  worth  conciliating.  His  men  largely  reinforced  by  the 
Eyans  and  O'Briens,  by  "  sharing  the  inn  of  the  wolf,  its  bed  and  cov- 
ering," from  constant  exposure  to  cold  and  wet,  had  become  dangerous- 
ly fierce  and  vigorous.  The  elements  were  not  propitious.  Much 
tempestuous  weather  prevailed  as  we  are  told  by  the  annalists.  Wind, 
constant  rains  and  thunder  storms,  interfered  with  the  campaign  for 
both  armies.  The  bishop  of  Killaloe  sent  to  Spain  reported  en- 
encouragingly  of  foreign  aid,  whilst  the  vast  amounts  of  money  ex- 
pended to  little  purpose  fretted  the  frugal  queen,  who  in  December, 
while  appointing  Ormbnd  governor  of  Munster,  authorized  St. 
Leger  to  treat. 

The  earl,  after  securing  his  Avinter  supplies  had  gone  into  Kerry 
to  persuade  dancarthy,  O'Sullivan  and  Fitzmaurice  to  a  general 
rising.  At  Christmas  he  besieged  Dingle.  A  few  days  later  Imo- 
killy and  Condon  entered  Youghal  and  nearly  surprised  Cork.  Or- 
mond reached  Waterford  on  the  twenty-first  of  January,  1583,  his 
first  demand  for  the  custody  of  Desmond's  territories  indicating  him 
little  disposed  to  further  his  restoration  to  grace.  He  brought  over 
large  forces  which  he  judiciously  distribvited.  Sir  George  Thornton 
had  nearly  succeeded,  early  in  the  mnnth,  in  capturing  Desmond  not 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  459 

far  from  Kilmallock  and  Kilqueene,  when  the  roads  were  almost 
impassable  from  mire  and  the  streams  swollen.  The  earl  leaving 
his  bed,  plunged  into  the  river,  and  for  hours  remained  concealed 
under  its  bank,  up  to  his  chin  in  water,  his  wife  bearing  him  company. 
Fenton  in  March  wrote  Walsingham  that  he  had  urged  the  lord 
general  to  have  Desmond  assassinated.  The  queen's  injunctions  to 
Ormond  had  been  to  procure  a  conference  with  Gerald,  but  Lacy,  sent 
to  sound  him,  reported  that  he  still  insisted  upon  life,  land  and  liberty. 
The  countess  came  in  under  protection,  saying  that  Gerald  would 
not  yield  himself  to  a  Butler,  his  ancient  enemy,  but  was  willing  to 
go  over  to  the  queen.  Expecting  aid  from  abroad,  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  abate  his  pretentions. 

Ormond,  not  very  gentle,  hung  up  the  mother  of  Imokilly,  but 
with  due  respect  to  legal  formalities.  AValsingham  advised  him  to 
subdue  or  reclaim  Desmond  speedily,  or  the  queen  would  adopt 
another  policy  to  lessen  her  charges .  Gerald  knew  Ormond  too  well  to 
expect  mercy,  had  he  been  willing  to  accept  it  at  his  hands.  Still  he 
realized  his  inability  to  prolong  the  struggle,  and  entertained  thoughts 
of  abandoning  Ireland  and  taking  refuge  on  the  continent.  At  the 
instigation  of  Elena  he  wrote  Ormond  in  June  to  appoint  some  time 
and  place  for  an  interview,  making  many  protestations  of  loyalty. 
Had  Butler  been  sincerely  inclined  to  carry  out  his  instructions,  he 
could  have  easily  persuaded  Desmond,  in  his  then  state  of  despon- 
dency, to  accept  terms,  but  the  humiliation  he  proposed  proved  too 
bitter  a  draught  for  the  pride  of  the  Geraldine,  who  is  described,  a 
few  weeks  afterwards,  by  Ormond,  as  wandering  unhappily  from 
place  to  place,  forsaken  by  all  men.  Twenty-one  hundred  principal 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  of  Munster  had  come  in  at  Castlemagne, 
among  them  Clancarre  and  the  two  O'Sullivans.  In  September 
Ormond  professed  himself  weary  of  so  much  bloodshed  and  denied 
any  wish  to  crowd  Desmond,  but  actions  spoke  plainer  than  words, 
and  a  thousand  pounds  offered  for  his  head,  no  pains  were  spared 
to  capture  him. 


460  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Good  tidings  that  the  pope  was  urging  Philip  to  send  ten  thousand 
men,  recently  employed  in  reducing  the  Azores,  to  his  assistance,  may 
have  colored  his  expectations  ;  but  he  offered,  in  October,  to  yield 
if  life  and  liberty  were  granted  to  himself,  and  after  his  death  his  son 
permitted  to  inherit.  The  chiefs  of  Duhallo  and  Clanawley 
still  befriended  him,  and  his  cousin  Maurice,  son  of  John  had  sixty 
swords  in  Aherlow.  But  when  it  was  bruited  about  that  lord  Roche 
had  nearly  captured  him,  with  his  priest  and  two  kernes  as  his  only 
companions,  any  disposition  to  jeopardize  life  and  estate  for  a  cause 
so  utterly  hopeless  died  out. 

His  kinsmen  nearly  all  dead,  abandoned  at  his  own  request  by 
wife  and  children,  this  unhappy  lord  of  a  vast  palatinate  roamed 
stealthily  through  the  wild  scenes  of  his  happier  boyhood,  not  know- 
ing where  to  lay  his  head.  Ail  that  remained  of  his  once  numerous 
following  had  shrunk  to  some  few  personal  attendants,  who  watched 
tenderly  over  his  seciirity  and  provided  such  food  and  shelter  as  cir- 
cumstances allowed.  Constantly  on  the  alert  they  watched  on  the 
hill  tops  to  apprise  him  of  approaching  danger,  and  keeping  ever  on 
the  move,  baffled  his  pursuers.  Food  cooked  in  one  place  was  eaten 
in  another.  Caverns  or  the  starry  heavens  canopied  their  rest,  when 
no  ruined  cabin  could  be  found.  The  large  price  set  upon  his  head 
was  no  temptation  to  them.  Among  the  most  devoted  proved  Godfrey 
Mac  SAveeny,  offshoot  of  that  remarkable  stock  in  Donegal,  who 
from  their  valor  and  military  talent,  furnished  constables  to  nearly 
every  sept  and  army  of  either  race  throughout  the  land,  O'Neil  and 
O'Donnel,  Butler  and  Geraldine.  Godfrey  had  been  constable  of 
Desmond,  and  though  all  semblance  of  organized  force  had  melted 
away,  still  continued  steadfast  to  his  chief  throughout  his  adversities. 

Whilst  off  on  some  quest  for  Gerald,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Ormond.  Claiming  protection  as  a  reconciled  rebel,  evidence  that 
he  had  been  recently  seen  with  the  proclaimed  earl,  imperilled  his  life, 
which  the  lord  general  promised  him,  together  with  rich  rewards,  if 


TEANSFEK     OF     ERIN.  4()l 

he  would  betray  his  master.  Godfrey,  practishig  on  tlie  simplicity 
of  Ormond,  and  meeting  fraud  with  fraud,  perhaps  in  this  case  to  be 
palliated,  seemingly  consented  ;  but  declared  that  to  succeed  in  the 
attempt  to  captm-e  him,  he  must  go  alone.  Rejoining  the  earl  in  his 
lurking  place  he  supplied  his  necessities  by  hunting  or  maraud,  till 
on  some  expedition  of  the  latter  sort,  he  was  slain  as  the  winter 
was  closing  in.  Cut  off  from  all  hope  of  flight  or  pardon,  his 
health  broken  and  not  sure  of  his  daily  food  except  from  Him  who 
feeds  the  ravens  that  call  upon  him,  the  earl  doubtless,  at  times,  la- 
mented that  his  fither  on  slight  pretext  had  ever  disinherited,  for  his 
benefit,  his  elder  brother  Thomas  Ruagh,  who  during  all  this  tumult 
was  dwelling  in  quiet  at  Castlemore  or  Kilnataloon. 

On  Saturday,  the  ninth  of  November,  the  earl  left  the  woods  near 
Castle  island,  sending  two  of  his  horsemen  and  eighteen  kernes  to 
bring  in  a  prey.  They  carried  off  forty  cows  and  nine  horses  from 
the  widow  of  one  of  the  Moriartys,  whom  they  stripped  of  all  she 
possessed.  Her  brother  Owen  and  Maurice,  whose  deposition  as  to 
what  occurred,  taken  at  the  time,  is  still  extant,  were  ordered  by 
Stanley  to  use  the  ward  of  Castlemagne  and  go  in  pursuit.  Five  of 
that  garrison  joining  them  on  their  way,  the  party,  then  consisting  of 
thirty  men  familiar  with  the  country,  reached  Tralee  Sunday  after- 
noon. Making  no  stop,  they  followed  the  trail  so  long  as  daylight 
lasted,  and  then,  the  moon  serving,  entered  Glenaginty  on  Slievc 
Luachra.  Climbing  to  the  mountain  top  to  discover,  if  they  could, 
any  fire  in  the  valley,  they  saw  one  beneath  them  not  far  off.  Maurice 
went  to  reconnoitre,  but  reported  that  there  were  no  cattle  there, 
though  a  cabin  and  some  people.  As  the  day  dawned,  on  iVlonday 
morning,  they  cautiously  approached  the  house,  and  as  they  entered 
several  persons  were  seen  to  escape  through  the  rear  door  into  the 
woods. 

On  the  floor  before  the  fire  lay  a  venerable  personage,  Avho, 
being  struck  in  the  arm  with  a  sword  by  Daniel  OTvelly,  one   of 


462  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

the  soldiers,  all  of  whom  had  now  gathered  in  the  hut,  exclaimed 
"  I  am  the  earl  of  Desmond,  spare  my  life."  Maurice  replied  he 
had  already  thrown  tliat  away,  and  should  now  be  Ormond's 
prisoner  and  the  queen's.  They  proposed  to  take  him  down  the 
glen  in  turn,  upon  their  backs,  Donnel  first,  but  soon  the  rest  refus- 
ing lest  a  rescue  should  be  made,  Maurice  ordered  O'Kelly  to  cut 
off  his  head  which  was  done.  It  was  carried  to  Castlemagne,  but 
an  eastei'ly  storm  prevailing,  some  weeks  elapsed  before  it  reached 
London  with  the  intelligence  of  his  death.  His  body  after  two 
months  hiding  was  interred  by  his  attached  adherents  and  kinsfolk, 
in  a  churchyard  of  the  Geraldines,  near  the  church  of  Kilmury. 
The  stone  coffin  in  which  it  was  laid,  exhumed  by  a  neighbor  in  the 
present  century,  was  found  empty  and  broken  up  for  the  lime  kiln. 
The  head  of  Gerald  in  an  iron  cage  adorned  till  it  mouldered  London 
Bridge. 

Not  long  after  the  final  catastrophe,  appeared  on  the  southern  coast 
of  the  island  a  Spanish  corvet  with  money  and  munitions  of  war  and 
tidings  that  troops  were  on  their  way.  A  friar  on  board  inquired 
for  Desmond  or  some  one  who  represented  him  to  receive  what  they 
brought,  but  after  being  informed  as  to  the  posture  of  affairs  they 
sailed  away.  For  a  while  Ulster  expected  these  promised  troops  in 
her  ports,  but  Philip  showed  no  disposition  to  venture  without  more 
adequate  promise  of  success. 

With  Gerald  ended  the  rule  of  the  Geraldines  in  Munster.  The 
growth  of  four  centuries  of  wrong  and  robbery  as  many  years  had 
sufficed  to  overtlirow.  From  Youghal  to  Dingle  extended  the  vast 
possessions  of  his  house,  and  a  large  part  of  Munster  when  its  power 
was  in  the  ascendant  yielded  to  its  exactions.  Too  proud  to  be 
pliant  and  conform  as  Butlers  and  O'Briens  to  royal  caprice  and  the 
course  of  events,  he  stood  fast  by  the  fiiith  of  his  fathers,  and  his  long 
imprisonment  and  the  partiality  shown  Ormond  in  their  quarrels 
rankled  in  his  breast.     It  was  not  however  bcfoie  his  dominions  had 


»  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  4G3 

been  clevastated  contrary  to  agreement  that  he  committed  himself  to 
hostilities,  but  Avhcn  once  compromised  he  persevered  with  vigor, 
and  without  further  vacillation.  At  various  times  at  the  instance 
of  his  amiable  and  devoted  wife,  he  thought  of  submission,  but  re- 
membering how  short  a  shrift  Tudors  gave  their  victims,  and  that 
he  had  nothing  to  hope  from  queen  or  Ormond,  he  accepted  his  fate. 
He  may  not  have  been  very  politic,  but  his  character,  composed  of 
many  elements  of  strength  both  of  temper  and  principle,  is  interest- 
ing as  an  historical  study. 

Human  nature  is  infinitely  various.  Character  dependent  for  irs 
form  and  pressure  upon  inheritance,  imitation  or  circumstance, 
neither  in  the  master  pieces  of  genius,  nor  distorted  creations  of  fic- 
tion, can  be  studied  to  such  good  purpose  as  from  actual  life,  in 
iiistorical  personages  like  Shane  O'Niel  or  Gerald.  "  That  philosophy 
which  teaches  by  example "  affords  insight  into  the  motives  that 
prompt  and  principles  that  govern,  and  it  is  not  the  great  and  good, 
the  faultless  or  utterly  depraved,  who  yield  its  most  profitable  les- 
sons. Where  the  elements  of  good  and  evil  are  more  equally 
commingled,  and  approach  nearer  to  ordinary  standards,  where  prac- 
tical common  sense  and  honesty  of  purpose  are  subjected  to  the  fiery 
ordeal  of  peculiar  trial  and  temptation,  much  more  is  to  be  learned 
for  individual  improvement. 

In  an  age  of  unparalleled  barbarities  when  rack,  boot  and  thumb- 
screw aggravated  the  pains  of  death  on  scaffold  or  at  the  stake  for 
woman  or  for  martyr,  the  few  acts  of  cruelty  charged  to  Gerald  are 
dispi'oved,  or  found  to  be  grossly  exaggerated  by  the  prevailing  spirit 
of  detraction.  His  numberless  adherents  testified  their  attachment 
by  devoted  sacrifice.  Not  one  could  be  tempted  to  betray  him.  In- 
justice without  scruple  provoked  his  resentment,  but  prudence 
controlled  his  temper.  When  longer  forbearance  became  pusilla- 
nimity, he  defended  what  he  conceived  his  right  with  courage. 
Armies   of  veterans  ably  led  melted  away  before  his  judicious  com- 


464  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

binations,  nnd  for  two  years  he  inflicted  heavier  Wows  than  lie  received. 
He  realized  the  hardship  of  being  exposed  to  the  caprices  of  a  wo- 
man, whose  character  he  contemned,  yet  whose  power  to  harm  he  could 
not  control.  But  he  met  the  courses  of  providence  without  repin- 
ing, as  his  a|)pointed  cross.  Always  disposed  for  peace  upon  terms 
that  were  leasonable,  he  refused  to  submit  to  oppression.  After  his 
resources  were  exhausted  and  resistance  ceased  to  be  j)ossible,  he  ac- 
cepted his  fate  with  composure  i-ather  then  yield  to  humiliation. 

His  unwillingness  to  tamper  with  his  religious  convictions,  refusal 
to  betray  Saimders  for  his  own  security,  should  protect  his  memory 
from  the  reproaches  of  cotemporary  writers  interested  in  his  confisca- 
tions, from  their  being  perpetuated,  without  motive,  and  against  evi- 
dence, by  m.^dcrn  prejudice.  The  vastness  of  his  domains  resulted 
from  a  vicious  policy  concentrating  wealth  and  power  in  the  few  as  an 
effective  bulwark  against  popular  commotion.  Arbitrary  rule,  its  nat- 
ural outgrowth,  he  found  rooted  in  the  system  which  he  was  called 
to  administer,  and  responsibility  for  its  abuses  rested  not  upon  him. 
It  could  not  be  disturbed  without  ruin  to  the  structure  it  supported. 
Not  what  was  just  or  would  conduce  to  the  general  welfare  constitu- 
ted its  governing  principle  ;  but  the  gravitation,  to  which  society 
owed  its  stability,  consisted  mainly  of  selfish  interests  and  brute  force. 
Their  contagious  influence  corrupted  the  higher  motives  and  nobler 
aims  of  the  wiser  and  more  beneficent  rule  it  superseded,  and  little  was 
left  anywhere  of  what  alone  justifies  authority,  the  maintenance  of 
right  and  order,  disinterested  consideration  for  the  public  good. 
But  for  the  Geraldines,  English  power  would  never  have  gained  a 
permanent  foothold  in  the  island.  Now  that  they  had  served  their 
purpose  and  thwarted  protestant  views,  their  overthrow  became  a 
settled  design.  Not  Desmond's  defects  of  character  but  his  nobler 
traits  gave  it  effect,  and  led  to  the  ruin  of  his  house. 

What  became  of  the  family  of  this  "  ingens  rebellibus  exemplar  "  the 
reader  may  be  interested  to  learn.     By  Elena,  daughter  of  Edmund 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  465 

first  lord  Dunboyne*  and  Julia  daughter  of  Cormac  Oge  of  INIuskerry, 
he  had  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  Thomas  died  young  ;  Gerald 
became  the  sixteenth  earl,  and  ended  his  days  in  the  tower  of  London, 
in  1601 ,  unmarried.  Margaret  became  the  wife  of  Dermod  O'Conor 
of  Connaught ;  2,  Joan,  of  Dermod  O'Sullivan  Beare  and  died  1619  ; 
3,  Catherine,  successively  of  jNIaurice  Roche  lord  Fermoy,  and  of  Sir 
Donal  O'Brien  brother  of  fourth  earl  of  Thomond  and  ancestor  of 
the  viscounts  Clare,  the  fifth  of  whom  commanded  the  Irish  brigade 
at  Fontenoy  and  gained  that  memorable  victory ;  4,  Ellen,  of  Sir 
Donogh  O'Conor  Sligo,  of  Robert  Cressy,  and  of  her  kinsman  Edmund 
third  lord  Dunboyne  ;  and  5,  Ellis,  of  Valentine  Browne  of  Ross. 
The  widow  of  Gerald  married  for  her  second  husband  Sir  Donogh 
O'Conor  Sligo,  and  died  according  to  one  account  in  1656,  to  others, 
which  seem  more  consistent  Avith  probability,  twenty  years  earlier. 
The  last  descendant  of  the  male  line  of  Thomas  of  Drofjheda,  eighth 
earl,  died  in  1787.  Maurice,  son  of  John  Oge,  sou  of  John,  son  of 
the  eighth  earl,  was  one  of  the  three  surviving  heirs  to  the  earldom 
in  1601,  the  Sugan  earl  and  his  brother  being  the  other  two.  After 
the  death  of  Gerald  he  went  into  Spain. 

Resistance  had  died  out,  septs  at  the  south  and  centre  subsided 
into  discouragement.  In  diminished  numbers  they  ranged  the  woods 
and  mountains,  fierce  and  famishing,  or  hovered  about  the  set- 
tlements Avresting  from  their  neighbors  what  they  conceived  their 
own,  and  needed  to  save  their  families  from  perishing.     Clansmen 

*  The  several  branches  of  the  Butlers  in  Ireland  ai-e  difficult  to  follow.  That  of  Dun- 
boyne descended  from  Thomas,  brother  of  Edmond  created  first  earl  of  Carrick  in  1308, 
who  married  Simolda  le  Petit  heiress  of  Dunboyne  in  Meath.  His  grandson  William 
son  of  Peter  died  in  1415 ;  and  his,  Edmund  son  of  James  and  Morna  O'Brien,  by  Catherine 
Butler,  left  James  who  married  Elenor  McCarthy  Reagh  and  died  in  1508.  Their  son  James 
who  died  1533,  l)y  his  wife  Joan  daughter  of  Pierce,  earl  of  Ormond,  was  father  of  the  Ed- 
mund created  1541  baron  of  Dunboyne  mentioned  in  the  text.  James,  the  In-other  of  Elena, 
deceased  in  1601,  left  by  Margaret  Fitzpatrick  of  Upper  Ossory  five  sons  and  three  daughters 
and  a  widow  another  Margaret  daughter  of  Connor  third  earl  of  'liiomond.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Edward  his  grandson  1595-1640,  who  married  his  cousin  Ellen,  daughter  of  Elena, 
who  died  1660.  Theoljald  present  and  thirteenth  baron  was  born  in  1806.  The  Cahir  branch, 
earls  of  Glengall,  descended  from  third  earl,  were  created  barons  in  1543,  Theobald  who  mar- 
ried Mary  daughter  of  the  chancellor  Sir  Thomas  Cusack  being  the  first  of  the  second 
creation.  At  the  death  of  Richard  second  earl  of  Glengall  and  eleventh  lord  Cahir,  b.  1794 
d.  1858,  these  honors  came  to  an  end  unless  some  heir  existed  to  the  elder  title. 

59 


466  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

of  high  degree  kept  less  aloof  from  the  intruders,  professing  friend- 
liness they  had  very  little  occasion  to  feel.  Strong  castles  went 
up  in  OfFaly  and  Leix,  the  ancient  inhabitants  crushed  out  between 
these  tightening  folds  of  "advancing  civilization."  Misery  does  not 
tend  to  make  men  peaceable,  and  a  dispute  in  September  between 
two  O'Conors  took  a  course  unusual.  They  brought  it  for  adjust- 
ment before  the  lords  justices,  who  to  more  effectually  dispose  of  the 
case  and  of  the  parties,  proposed  wager  of  battle,  a  process  if  then 
known  to  the  law  practically  obsolete.  Seven  days  were  assigned 
for  preparation,  passed  by  one  of  them  in  pious  offices,  by  the  other 
in  training  for  the  fight.  At  the  time  appointed,  in  the  court  of  the 
castle,  the  archbishop  presiding  and  all  the  high  officials,  priests  and 
laymen,  civil  and  military  in  attendance,  the  chiefs  in  their  shirts, 
with  sword  and  target  entered  the  lists,  and  the  pleadings  read  and 
oaths  administered,  at  sound  of  trumpet,  engaged  in  deadly  combat. 
Tagd  the  appellant,  after  valiant  fighting  by  both  of  them,  disarmed 
Con  his  antagonist,  and  cutting  ofi^  his  head  presented  it  to  the 
pleased  archbishop. 

Hooker,  who  describes  the  scene  of  which  he  was  a  witness, 
observes  that  many  present  would  have  preferred  that  the  whole  sept 
had  taken  part  instead  of  only  these  two  gentlemen.  The  affiiir 
savored  of  the  joust,  but  for  its  lack  of  steeds,  and  bare  shirt  offered 
but  sorry  substitute  for  coat  of  mail.  It  bore  resemblance  to  contests 
in  the  arena  which  delighted  the  heathen,  to  bear  bait  or  bull  fight, 
pleasant  to  Christendom.  It  was  well  adapted  to  suit  the  fancy  of 
archbishop  Loftus  who  tortured  Hurley,  and  was  rather  worse  than 
the  killing  of  Allen,  all  three  of  them  venerable  prelates.  It  was  in 
bad  taste  in  this  more  than  else,  that  the  aggrieved  race  should  have 
thus  afforded  gratification  to  their  enemies  by  quarrels  among  them- 
selves, and  constitutes  a  curious  exemplification  of  the  contentious 
spirit  which  has  ever  been  the  perdition  and  bane  of  Ireland. 

But  if  indecorous  for  the  primate  to  preside  over  this  sanguinary 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  467 

conflict,  there  were  extenuating  circumstances.  Twelve  months  be- 
fore the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  had  tainted  the  air  of  France 
witli  tlie  blood  of  thirty  thousand  Huguenots.  Such  horrors  grown 
infectious  whetted  the  appetite  for  more.  Neither  Catherine  dc 
Medici  nor  the  archbishop  were  model  christians  or  disposed  to 
shrink  from  human  shambles,  where  they  conceived  public  policy 
concerned.  Persecution  of  schismatics  or  non-conformists  was  not 
to  save  souls,  but  to  uphold  papal  power  or  shake  it  off.  Atrocities 
of  deepest  dye  perpetrated  alike  by  protestant  and  catholic  must  be 
attributed  to  a  morbid  spirit  of  dictation,  or  to  carry  out  some  cher- 
ished design.  That  design  was  often,  sad  to  say,  the  gratification  of 
malignant  temper,  personal  resentment,  or  selfish  greed.  Blood  was 
poured  out  like  water,  the  most  savage  cruelties  inflicted  in  the  name 
of  Christianity,  when  the  actuating  motive  was  to  crush  an  enemy, 
or  improve  one's  estate.  During  the  Desmond  war  policy  counselled 
toleration.  Now  that  persecution  could  no  longer  strengthen  opposi- 
tion and  would  help  along  confiscation,  the  blood  hounds  were  let 
loose. 

Religious  differences  were  adjusted  by  martial  law  or  processes 
equally  summary.  Hurley  papal  archbishop  of  Cashel,  learned  and 
estimable,  some  few  weeks  before  the  death  of  Desmond,  whilst  em- 
ployed in  secretly  administering  the  holy  sacraments,  had  found  himself 
at  castle  Slane  at  supper  with  another  guest,  judge  Dillon.  Conversa- 
tion flowed  on,  when  discussion  arose  as  to  controverted  points  of 
theology.  The  prelate  held  his  peace  not  to  betray  himself.  But 
when  something  advanced  peculiarly  offensive  touched  him  to  the 
quick,  he  expressed  his  views  w^ith  an  ability  leading  the  judge  to 
suspect  him  no  ordinary  personage.  Ascertaining  who  he  in  reality 
was,  Dillon  denounced  him  to  the  lords  justices,  who  caused  his  arrest 
under  the  roof  of  Ormond.  After  long  imprisonment  in  a  dank  and 
murky  dungeon,  Loftus  offered  him  his  see,  if  he  would  renounce 
the  pope  and  hold  it  of  the  queen.     Declining,  he  was  put  to  torture. 


468  TRANSFEEOF    ERIN. 

As  there  was  no  rack  at  the  castle,  his  feet  were  placed  in  boots  con- 
structed for  the  purpose.  Oil,  wax  and  pitch,  salt  and  butter  were 
poured  in  with  boiling  water  and  fire  applied.  With  untroubled 
mien  the  martyr  sustained  his  excruciating  torments.  Remanded  to 
his  cell,  Mac  Morris  his  fellow  prisoner,  a  Jesuit  physician  skilled  in 
medicaments,  effected  his  partial  cure,  but  the  lords  justices,  with 
the  sanction  of  the  queen  and  fearing  Ormond's  interference,  if  de- 
layed, ordered  his  execution  without  the  walls,  and  at  dawn,  lest 
tumult  should  arise.  Abbot  Cullinan  and  another  priest  were  also 
hung,  and  many  more  underwent  a  like  fate. 

The  Burkes  after  their  submission  at  the  close  of  the  campaign  of 
1581,  had  kept  quiet  for  them.  They  awaited  some  act  of  grace 
from  the  queen  to  shield  them  from  her  wrath  for  their  previous 
course.  The  loss  of  seven  hundred  of  their  followers,  in  the  contest, 
two  hundred  of  them  their  kinsmen,  had  diminished  their  strength, 
and  humbled  their  pride.  Their  father,  dying  of  consumption,  long- 
ed for  his  native  air,  and  exciting  the  commiseration  of  the  queen 
and  her  council  was  released,  and  went  home  in  the  summer  of  1582. 
He  received,  after  his  long  absence,  an  enthusiastic  welcome  at  Gal- 
way  from  neighbor  and  kinsfolk,  and  having  reconciled  his  sons 
with  each  other  and  the  queen,  died  and  was  buried  at  Loughrea. 
Ulick  and  John,  born  to  him  by  different  mothers,  entered  into  similar 
contention  for  the  earldom  as  their  father  and  uncle,  thirty  years  be- 
fore. They  left  it  in  the  first  instance  to  Malbie  to  determine,  who 
decided  in  favor  of  Ulick  his  father-in-law.  John  appealing  to  the 
council  who  affirmed  the  judgment  of  the  governor,  he  was  ap- 
peased by  being  created  baron  of  Leitrim. 

The  death  of  John  by  violence  the  year  after  his  father's,  cast  sus- 
picion on  Malbie,  reproach  on  Ulick.  Receiving  the  hospitalities  of 
a  kinsman,  the  castle  keys  were  treacherously  or  surreptitiously  ab- 
stracted from  the  keeping  of  the  seneschal,  to  whose  charge  they  were 
entrusted  at  night,  and  the  warders  drugged  or  inebriated  at  a  feast 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  469 

provitletl  for  tlie  purpose,  the  gates  were  thrown  open  and  an  armed 
band  of  Ulick's  admitted.  Two  knights  of  distinction  were  killed 
in  their  beds.  John,  who  slept  in  the  adjoining  chamber,  awoke  at 
the  stir  and  hastily  slipped  on  his  breast-plate  over  his  night  dress, 
seizing  what  weapons  were  at  hand.  The  door  was  closed  against 
the  intruders,  but  upon  parley  it  was  agreed  that  he  should  join  his 
brother,  then  without  tlie  castle  expecting  him,  assurance  being  given 
for  his  safety.  lie  had  hardly  laid  down  his  sword  and  doffed  his 
armor  before  the  assailants  rushed  through  the  opening  door,  and  he 
fell  pierced  by  many  wounds. 

Dissension  arose  still  farther  west,  for  i^allinahinch.  Teigue  son 
of  the  battle-axes  held  it ;  but  the  descendants  of  Owen,  another 
O'Flaherty,  claimed.  Pursued  by  their  kinsmen  to  Arran,  many  were 
slain  besides  one  of  the  Clan  Maurice  of  Kerry  their  ally.  They  finally 
recovered  the  lands  in  controversy.  As  1584  ended,  Brian  O'Kourke 
grandson  of  his  chief,  helped  himself  to  the  herds  of  Dartry.  Their 
rightful  owner,  Mac  Clancy,  rushed  to  recover  them,  and  at  Benbo 
a  mountain  famous  for  its  promise  of  gold,  never  realized,  fought  the 
despoiler  who  came  as  haughtily  to  the  encounter  as  the  proud 
O'Rourke  himself.  That  chieftain,  disapproving  of  the  marauding 
propensities  of  his  descendant  and  namesake,  sent  the  men  of  Brenny 
to  stay  his  proceedings.  In  Brian's  pay  were  MacSheehys  late  gal- 
loglasses  of  Desmond,  whose  iron  morions  and  coats  pierced  with  nails 
did  not  save  them  that  day  from  slaughter.  Brian  carried  off  by  his 
fellow  clansmen  paid  the  penalty  for  appropriating  what  belonged  to 
his  neighbor  contrary  to  tribe  usage,  and  incurring  still  further  the 
displeasure  of  his  chief  was  put  to  death. 

Ulster  aswarm  Avith  wai-riors  preferring  fight  to  feast,  continued  vol- 
canic. Ivilcote  in  1581 ,  as  related,  went  against  O'Donnel.  Another 
year  found  his  army  and  Turlogh's  in  large  numbers  confronting  on 
Lough  Foyle,  whilst  the  chieftains  held  an  amicable  conference.  This 
ended  not  without  bloodshed,  Scotch  highlanders  under  O'Xeil  havin'*- 


470  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

an  affray  with  the  equnllj  teinpersome  Mac  S  weenys.  The  humiliation 
of  having  received  the  last  blow  rankled  in  the  heart  of  Tyrconnel 
and  he  burned  Strabane,  the  residence  of  Turlogh  and  near  his  own. 
Turlogh  gathered  his  clan  and  some  English  to  resent  this  indignity, 
and  in  June  the  rival  chieftain  concentrated  his  forces  at  Drumlean. 
Skirmishes  ensued  and  reconnoissances  in  force.  Turlogh's  choicest 
cavalry  crossed  the  Finn,  and  passing  Liiford,  Hugh  despatched  a 
larjje  mounted  force  to  drive  them  back.  The  obstinate  and  merciless 
encounter  lasted  long,  but  the  invaders  environed  by  superior  numbers 
and  badly  cut  up  gave  way,  and  unable  in  their  haste  and  confu- 
sion to  discover  the  ford  rushed  into  the  angry  flood.  Many  were 
drowned,  among  them  O'Gormly  and  O'Clery  half  brother  of  Tur- 
logh and  keeper  of  his  treasures. 

Desmond's  career  commencing  with  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  forms 
an  epoch  in  Irish  history  which  closes  with  his  death.  Allusion  to 
that  of  some  few  of  his  cotemporaries  mentioned  by  the  annalists  will 
sucrijest  what  then  constituted  claims  to  notice.  O'Hara  distinguish- 
ed  for  horsemanship  and  hearty  hospitality ;  O'Byrne  versed  in 
Latin  and  Irish  civil  and  common  law  ;  O'Madden  of  similar  culture, 
valorous  in  war  and  compassionate  to  the  needy ;  Pierce  Butler  who 
obtained  no  property  of  the  church  ;  Gilla  O'Shaugnessy  esteemed 
for  his  many  excellent  traits  by  both  races,  and  his  mother  Margaret 
O'Brien  famed  for  her  beauty ;  another  of  the  latter  name,  wife  of 
Clanrickard,  respected  throughout  the  land  for  her  kindness  to  friend 
and  kinsfolk  ;  and  yet  another,  daughter  of  the  third  earl,  equally  re- 
nowned for  her  integrity,  purity  and  piety  ;  Catherine  IMaguire  wife 
of  O'Boyleand  the  best  any  chieftain  had  in  Ulster,  ended  their  days. 

During  the  next  decade  are  noted  John  MacNamara  lord  of  Clan- 
cuillen  in  Thomond,  noble  and  magestic,  favorite  of  dame  and  damsel 
for  mirth  and  pleasantry ;  Sir  Thomas  Cusack  thrice  viceroy,  and 
the  excellent  chancellor  "  not  to  be  forgotten,  as  peacemaker,  in  Mun- 
ster  for  a  century ;"  Magrath  ollav  of  Dalgais  in  poetry  but  also  an 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  471 

oracle  in  science  and  luisbandry ;  Ilugli  Mac  Clancy  professor  of 
the  fenachas  and  poetry,  whose  bins  of  choice  A^ine  added  to  his  cele- 
brity ;  and  another  of  the  same  intellectual  race,  ollay  of  judicature  ; 
j\Iac  AA'ard  ollav  to  O'Donnel  in  poetry,  and  president  of  his  schools  ; 
Johanna  O'Boyle  learning  to  swim  in  the  river ;  Donal  Mac 
Gorman  ser^-ant  of  trust ;  Mc\i\  daughter  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnel 
wife  first  to  Maclean  and  then  to  Olvanc,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
seven,  who  had  spent  this  long  life,  happily  and  in  affluence,  and 
gained  renown  for  her  generous  hospitality  and  graces  of  demeanor  ; 
Abbot  O'Dwyer  from  his  virtue  and  culture,  greatly  lamented ; 
Teigue  O'Brien  son  of  the  first  earl,  cham[)ion  in  battle,  ursine  in 
vigor  and  fierceness;  O'Duigenan  of  Ivilronan,  ollav  of  Tircrill,  a 
learned  historian,  Avho  kept  a  thronged  house,  cheerful,  affable  and 
endowed  Avith  the  gift  of  eloquence. 

Henry  O'Xeil  son  of  Turlogh  not  long  after  the  appearance  in  tlie 
soutlieast  in  January  of  the  wonderful  comet  with  curved  tail  resem- 
bling bright  lightning,  the  brilliancy  of  which  illuminated  the  eai'th 
around,  and  firmament  above  ;  Donnell  O'Sullivan  Mor  ;  James  lord 
of  Decies  ;  Calvagh  only  son  of  Donnel  of  Sligo  ;  John  O'Doherty 
lord  of  Inishowen,  for  whose  ransom  many  horses  and  lands  Avould 
have  been  given ;  Con  son  of  Calvagh  O'Donnel  accomplished, 
sedate  and  hospitable,  supporting  pillar  of  gentle  and  simple,  purchaser 
of  books,  so  illustrious  among  the  dcscendents  of  Nial  of  the  nine 
hostao;es  that  after  his  death  Kinnel  Konnel  mioht  have  been  likened 
to  a  harp  without  a  string,  slilp  without  pilot,  field  without  shade. 
Murrogh  O'Sheehy  who  died  of  grief  at  the  death  of  Desmond  ;  lord 
Roche  and  his  wife  in  the  same  month  ;   Sir  Cormac  Mac  Teigue*  lord 

*  Seventh  in  descent  from  Dermod  (113)  b.  1310-1367,  second  son  of  Coimac  Mor  (112), 
and  first  lord  of  Muskerrv  ;  sixth  from  Cormac  (114)  }i.  1346  k.  1374;  fifihfrom  Ta-d  (Wo) 
h.  1380  d.  1448;  fourth  from  Cormac  Laidir  (116)  b.  1411,  k.  1495,  who  built  Blarney ;  tliird 
from  Cormac  Oge  (117)  b.  1447.  d.  1.536  and  Catherine  Baiiy ;  second  from  Tapd  (118)  b. 
1472.  and  Catherine  d  of  Dnnal  Reagh  by  d.  ofeiglithKildare;  son  of  Dermod  (119)  I).  IcOl, 
d.  1570,  and  Helena  daiighter  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald.  Autliorities  disagree  as  to  the  suc- 
cessor of  Cormac  Mac  Teigue  the  chief  mentioned  in  the  text.  Four  Masters  say  Cormac 
son  of  Tacd  son  of  Dermot  succeeded,  Cormac  son  of  Dermot  son  of  Tagd  contending. 
The  latter  b.  1552  d.  1616  eventually  lord  of  Muskerry    by  Mary  Butler  d.  lord  Cahir 


472  TKANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

of  Muskeny,  high  sheriff  of  Cork,  rarest  man  among  the  Irishy, 
comely  shaped,  bright  countenanced,  who  possessed,  besides  Bhirney, 
of  the  builder  of  which  he  was  g.  g.  grandson,  more  whitewashed 
edifices,  fine  built  castles  and  hereditary  seats  than  any  one  of  the 
Eoghanacht ;  Conor  O'Kennedy  of  Ormond,  ready,  tranquil  and  do- 
mestic, without  reproach  from  his  birth ;  Eveleen  Roche  wife  of 
Donogh  fourth  earl  of  Thomond ;  Hugh  O'Reilly  chief  of  Brenny ; 
Margaret  O'Donnel  daughter  of  Huoh  Duv  and  wife  of  Maelmora 

O  DO 

O'Reilly,  than  whom  not  another  female  descendant  of  Gaedhal 
Glas  then  living  gave  away  more  presents,  are  selected  from  amongst 
the  rest  as  indicating  of  what  consisted  the  prominent  individuals  in 
the  country  at  this  period. 


XXXVII. 

REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 

Nearly  twenty  years  of  the  last  reign  of  the  Tudors  remain  for 
compression  within  brief  space.  A  general  view  of  an  histor- 
ical epoch  often  conveys  more  distinct  idea  of  its  form  and  pressure 
than  details  more  minute.  Readers  engrossed  with  one  subject  or 
eager  for  information  upon  many  have  rarely  taste  or  leisure  for  in- 
vestigation out  of  their  accustomed  beat,  and  to  them  even  this 
imperfect  sketch  of  a  period  fraught  with  momentous  consequences, 
not  confined  to  the  actual  generation  but  perennial  even  to  our  own, 
may  be  of  use.     The  difficulty  of  sifting  truth   from  error,  where 

left  a  younger  son  Daniel  of  Carrignavar  whose  descendant  represents  tliemale  line  of  this 
branch,  and  his  eldest  son  Cormac  h.  1.564,  d.  1640  er.  1628  viscount  Muskerry,  who  by  Mar- 
garet d.  of  fourth  Thomond  left  Donogh  1594-1666,  cr.  1658  earl  of  Ciancarthy,  who  by 
Eleanor  Butler  sister  first  duke  of  Ormond  had  Cormac  k.  in  battle  at  sea  1665,  and  Callagh- 
an  1630-1676,  third  earl,  who  by  Elizabeth  d.  sixteenth  Kildare,  had  Donogh,  b.  1665,  d.  1734 
fourth  earl,  who  for  James  II.  forfeited  lands  since  worth  £200,000  a  year,  as  alleged  l)ecause 
histroopcrs  tossed  in  a  blanket,  for  reasons  good  or  bad,  a  butcher  of  Cork.  He  married  1684, 
Elizabeth  Spenser,  d.  carl  of  Sunderland,  and  their  son  Roliert  1686-1770  died  at  Boulogne 
leaving  two  sons,  who  died  %vithout  issue.  The  title  of  Clanc.irthy  is  now  held  by  the  fam- 
ily of  Le  Poor  Trench  descendants  of  John  Power  and  Helena  sister  of  Donogh  first  earl 
of  Ciancarthy. 


TRANSFER      OF      E  K  I  N  .  473 

authority  and  cvidcuce  are  so  various,  conflicting  and  often  inacces- 
sible, can  hardly  be  exaggerated. 

Early  in  1584  Sir  John  Perrot,  whose  previous  experiences  in 
Irish  administration  qualified  him  for  the  task,  had  been  commission- 
ed as  deputy.  He  was  empowered  according  to  precedent  to  make 
war  and  peace,  punish  and  pardon,  fine,  confiscate,  declare  martial 
law,  with  royal  privity  assemble  parliament,  appoint  all  officers  except 
the  chancellor,  three  chief  justices  and  master  of  the  rolls,  and  confer 
all  spiritual  promotions  except  to  the  sees  ;  in  fine,  to  do  whatever 
relating  to  government  and  justice  the  queen  could  do  if  present. 
He  was  active  and  vigorous,  generally  popular  with  the  septs,  and 
his  departure  in  1572  had  been  "lamented  by  the  poor,  the  widows, 
the  feeble  and  unwarlike  of  the  country."  But  if  humane  for  an 
English  governor  and  of  an  integrity  of  character  that  inspired  and 
merited  confidence,  the  annalists  say  his  word  was  as  good  as  his 
bond,  he  was  cjuick  to  perceive  and  improve  conjunctures  propitious 
to  the  main  object  of  English  policy,  the  reduction  of  the  septs  to 
obedience  to  the  crown. 

After  a  few  weeks  of  consultation  at  Dublin  with  the  council,  con- 
sisting of  the  late  lords  justices,  the  bishops  of  Armagh,  Meath  and 
Kilnora,Ormond,  Nicholas  Bagnall  knight  marshal,  Robert  Gardiner 
chief  justice,  the  two  Dillons,  White  master  of  the  rolls,  Fenton 
secretary  of  state,  Cowley,  Waterhouse,  Lestrange,  Brabazon,  "War- 
ham  St.  Leger  and  Valentine  Browme,  he  proceeded  into  Connaught, 
taking  Avith  him  Sir  Richard  Bingham  governor  of  that  province,  and 
Sir  John  Xorris,  of  Munster.  Malbie  learned  in  many  tongues, 
brave  in  the  field,  and  able  in  council,  had  lately  died,  not  without  hav- 
ing reaped  his  reward  in  a  gift  from  the  crown  of  the  town  of  Ros- 
common, of  Ballinasloe  from  the  Burkes.  During  his  absence  for 
a  year,  his  son-in-law,  Edward  Brabazon,  cruel  and  unsparing, 
ruled  in  his  stead,  and  his  successor  in  sternness  and  cruelty  out- 
heroded  the  bloody  Fitton.  The  lord  deputy  held  his  court  at 
60 


474  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

Gal  way,  generally  attended  by  the  neighboring  chieftains,  and  instal- 
ling Bingham  over  the  province  now  to  consist  of  Gal  way,  Leitrim, 
Mayo,  Roscommon,  Sligo  and  Thomond  then  as  now  Clare,  proceeded 
leisurely  towards  Limerick.  He  occupied  three  days  in  his  progress, 
passing  his  first  night  at  Kilmacduagh,  and  his  second  at  Quinn. 
There  he  caused  Donogh  Beg  O'Brien,  cousin  of  the  earl,  to  be 
pounded  at  the  cart  tail  with  an  axe,  and  suspended,  with  his  bones 
broken  and  half  dead,  to  the  steeple  of  its  church. 

At  Limerick  where  he  instated  Norris,  tidings  came  that  fleets 
from  the  isles  were  bringing  reinforcements  to  Sorley  Boy,  who  learning 
that  the  deputy  had  been  instructed  to  expel  him  from  the  Route, 
which  he  had  possessed  for  thirty  years,  had  determined  upon  resist- 
ance. Perrot,  ordering  all  troops  from  Beare  to  Boyne  to  collect 
at  Di'ogheda,  flew  to  meet  the  danger.  He  wrote  home  to  the  queen 
that  having  but  nine  hundred  men  at  his  immediate  disposal  he  had 
summoned  Ormond  to  his  assistance  ;  and  to  the  privy  council  that 
Turlogh  with  the  Scots  and  Spaniards,  expected  at  Sligo,  and  the 
disaffected  in  Munster  and  Connaught  had  combined  for  a  general 
rising.  Dungannon  had  of  late  been  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
English,  but  had  gone  to  join  O'Neil,  and  his  uncle  the  Maguire,  chief 
of  Fermanagh,  had  become  estranged.  On  his  way  at  Dublin  he 
wrote  Walsingham,  to  propose  turning  St.  Patricks  into  a  court 
house  and  endowing  two  colleges  out  of  its  revenues. 

Sixteen  hundred  Scots  had  come  over  with  the  sons  of  James  Mc- 
Donnel  and  twenty-four  hundred  since.  Not  anticipating  such 
vigorous  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  deputy,  or  else  receiving  or- 
ders from  home  as  no  war  existed  between  the  two  countries,  many 
of  themreembarked.  The  Kinel-Owen  not  satisfied  with  Turlogh  for 
calling  in  Englishmen  and  allowing  himself  to  be  beaten  by  Hugh  at 
Drumleen,  proposed  to  substitute  Shane's  son  in  his  place.  With 
Dungannon  he  took  refuge  with  Perrot  who  reduced  Donfert  and  Dun- 
luce  in  Antrim,  "the  strongest  piece  in  the  realm,  situate  upon  a  rock 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  475 

hanging  over  the  sea,  divided  irom  the  main  hind  by  a  broad,  deep, 
rocky  diteli,  natural  and  not  artificial,  with  no  way  to  it  but  a  small 
neck  of  the  same  rock,  which  was  also  cut  off  very  deep."  The 
garrison  having  no  guns  suitable  for  defence  surrendered.  SorTey 
Boy  late  lordof  fift}^  thousand  cows,  now  of  fifteen  hundred,  took  to 
his  woods.  He  soon  after  submitted  and  then  repaired  into  Scotland, 
Donnel  Gorme,  son  of  Agnes,  being  set  up  in  his  stead.  Pcrrot 
improved  the  opportunity  offered  by  this  apparent  submission,  to 
divide  Ulster  into  seven  counties  :  Antrim,  Armagh,  Cavan,  Cole- 
raine,  Donegal,  Fermanagh  and  Tyrone,  and  appointed  sheriffs  and 
other  officials.  But  as  the  inhabitants  were  not  prepared  to  receive 
them,  or  admit  either  English  tribunals  or  English  rule,  it  was  sim- 
ply a  decree  ;  and  without  other  result  than  to  enable  certain  greedy 
and  unscrupulous  individuals,  where  the}^  could  with  impurity,  to 
harass  and  despoil  the  helpless  and  unprotected. 

The  energetic  deputy  having  gone  through  all  the  provinces  of 
the  realm  within  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  year,  w^as  back  in  Dub- 
lin by  the  middle  of  October.  He  requested  reinforcements  of  five 
hundred  men  to  make  his  standing  force  twenty-five  hundred,  and 
fifty  thousand  pounds  a  year  for  three  years  to  build  seven  bridges, 
as  many  towns  and  castles.*  This  shocked  the  economy  of  his  royal 
mistress,  who  was  expecting  an  invasion  from  the  Spaniards.  Perrot 
sent  over  to  England  for  education  Gerald,  now  sixteenth  earl  of 
Desmond,  with  the  sons  of  Clanrickard  and  Olluurke,  "pretty  quick 
boys,"  and  Avith  them  the  holy  cross  of  Columbkille,  "a  god  of  great 
veneration  with  Sorley  Boy  and  all  Ulster,"  as  a  gift  to  Walsingham. 

The  winter  passed  in  preparation  for  the  new  parliament.  White 
was  hanging  in  Leinster  forty-eight  out  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  prisoners.     At  Ballynecor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Glynn,  Feagh 

*  Towns :  Athlone,  Coleraine,  Sligo,  Mayo,  Dingle  and  the  Newry.  Bridges :  Coleraine, 
Lifford,  Balh-shannoii,  Dundalk,  Broadwater  in  Miinster,  river  Veale  under  Slieve  Louglier, 
Kills  in  Clanebov.  Castles:  Blackwater  to  he  better  fortified,  Ball)'sliannon,  Meeliek  to  be 
erected,  Broadwater  in  Munster.  Castle  Martin  upon  tlie  Route;  Galin  in  the  Queen's 
County  and  Kilcolnian  in  Feagh  McHugh  O'Byrnes.  By  tliese  the  whole  realm  would  be 
environed  and  strengthened,  and  all  great  waters  made  passable. 


476  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Mac  Hugh  of  the  O'Byrnes  professed  good  intentions,  but  could 
not  oiFend  his  captain.  Cavan  was  erected  into  a  shire.  Perrot  had 
ordered  that  Sorley  Boy  and  his  son  should  be  assassinated,  but 
Dan  try  wrote  he  could  not  bring  it  about.  Valentine  Browne  thirty- 
five  years  in  service,  sent  to  survey  Munster,  found  it  wasted  by  fam- 
ine, justice  and  the  sword,  not  one  in  thirty  left  of  its  inhabitants. 
He  suffered  all  sorts  of  hardship  and  discomfort,  but  did  his  work. 

In  the  midwinter,  an  unwonted  season  for  hostilities,  two  thou- 
sand Scots  came  over  under  Angus  McDonnel  and  Sorley  Boy  and 
attacked  Stanley  and  Bagnall,  but  were  beaten  off,  Stanley  being 
thiice  badly  wounded.  Sorley  in  February  declaring  his  good  in- 
tentions, offered  to  pay  the  same  rent  for  the  Rovite  and  third  part  of 
the  Glynns  as  previously  for  the  wdiole,  his  cousin  Donnal  Gorme 
having  now  possession  of  tlie  other  two  thirds.  For  answer  his 
territory  was  devastated,  and  Angus  returning  by  order  of  the  king 
to  Scotland,  Sorley  soon  followed. 

At  the  end  of  April  the  parliament  met  and  presented  an  unwont- 
ed aspect.  Chiefs  in  native  costume  flocked  to  the  capital.  Some 
reluctantly  adopted  the  parliamentary  robes,  O'Neil  begging  that 
his  chaplain  might  wear  petticoats  and  share  the  ridicule.  Besides 
Turlogh,  Hugh  came  as  earl  of  Tyrone.  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnel, 
Cuconnaught  Maguire,  John  Oge  O'Doherty,  Turlogli  O'Boyle, 
Owen  O'Gallagher,  Ross  McMahon,  Rory  O'Kane,  Con  O'Neil  of 
Clanaboy,  Hugh  Magennis,  Brian  O'Rourke,  John  Roe  O'Reilly  and 
his  uncle  Edmund,  William  O'Ferrall  Bane  and  Fachtna  O'Ferall 
Boy,  Hugh  O'Conor  Don,  Teigue  Oge  O'Conor  Roe,  Donnel 
O'Conor  Sligo,  Brian  Mac  Dermot  of  Moylurg,  Carbry  O'Bierne 
of  Tir  Briuin,  Teigue  O'Kelly,  Donnel  O'^Iadden,  Morrogh 
O'Flaherty  of  the  battle  axes,  John  and  Dermot  sons  of  Gilladuv 
O'Shaughnessy,  Sir  Turlogh  O'Brien  son  of  Sir  Donald,  John 
Macnamara,  Boethius  Mac  Clancy,  Ross  O'Loughlin  of  Burren, 
Mui'togh  Mac-I-brien-Ara,  bishop  of  Killaloe,   Calvagh  O'Carroll, 


TEANSFER     OF     ERIN.  477 

Jolm]\IcCoglilan,  Philip  O'Dwyer  of  Tipperary,  Miirtogli  MacBricn 
of  Carrigogunnell  and  Conor  O'Mulryan  were  there. 

Of  the  Eoghanacht  Donnal  MacCarthy  jNIor,  cnrl  of  Clancarre, 
Owen  McCarthy  Keagh  of  Carbcry,  Donncl  son  of  Cormac  lieagh 
and  Florence  son  of  Donogh,  Dermot  and  Donogh  competitors  for 
Duhallow,  Owen  O'Sullivan  Beare  and  Owen  O'Sullivan  Mor  of 
Dunkerron  came,  and  also  Conor  and  Florence  O'Driscoll,  Florence 
INIac  Gilpatrick,  Conla  Mageoghan  of  AVest  Meath,  and  Fcagh 
O'Byrne  of  Glanmahire.  None  of  the  O'Mores  of  Lcix  or  O'Conors 
of  OfFaly,  MacGormaus  or  Kavanaghs,  Tooles,  Dunns  or  Dempsys 
attended. 

]Many  of  the  chieftains,  who  improved  the  occasion  to  visit  the 
capital  for  the  laudable  pui'pose  of  meeting  their  acquaintance  and 
enlarging  their  experience  of  the  world,  were  not  members.  Thirty 
six  towns  were  represented.  In  the  upper  house  sat  the  four  arch- 
bishops, Dublin,  Armagh,  Tuam  and  Cashel  ;*  twenty  bishops,  two 
of  whom,  Clogher  and  Raphoe,  were  professed  catholics  ;  six  earls, 
Ormond,  Kildare,  Tyrone,  Thomond,  Clanrickard  and  Clancarre  ; 
four  viscounts,  Buttevant,  Gormanstown,  Fermoy  and  jNIontgarret ; 
fourteen  barons,  Athenry,  Kinsale,  Slane,  Delvin,  Killeen,  Howth, 
Trimlestown,  Dunsany,  Upper  Ossory,  Louth,  Curraghmore,  Inchi- 
quin,  Castleconnel,  and  Cahir.  The  session  ended  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  May,  parliament  having  attainted  James  Eustace,  viscount 
Baltinglass,  and  restored  liawrence  Delahide  whose  ancestor  had 
been  attainted  under  Henry  YIII.  The  proposition  to  suspend  the 
Poynings  act  was  defeated  by  the  Anglo  Irish  members,  and  sixteen 
bills  sent  over  from  England  thrown  out.  They  refused  to  pass  the 
usual  subsidy,  to  vest  the  queen  with  lands  of  attainted  persons 
without  inquisition  or  office  found,  or  to  declare  those  guilty  of  trea- 
son who  should  rebelliously  detain  any  of  her  castles.  The  recalcitrant 
members  were  much  the  same  who  had  hounded  Kildare,  Netterville 

*  Loftus,  Long,  Lcnliy  and  Magrath. 


478  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

the  friend  of  Leicester,  Burnell,  Sutton,  Garland  and  Edward  Nugent. 
They  persuaded  O'Ferral  Ban,  Tirrel,  Philip  and  Edmund  O'Reilly 
members  for  Cavan,  Sir  Hugh  Magennis  and  John  Cusack  to  aid. 
Government  instituted  proceedings  against  them,  Avhen  Gormanstown 
and  other  peers  apologized  to  the  queen  for  their  audacity.  The  par- 
liament in  no  amiable  humor  was  prorogued  to  the  twenty-eighth  of 
April,  of  the  following  year. 

The  session  over,  as  the  deputy  was  starting  for  the  north,  he 
commissioned  Bingham,  the  earls  of  Thomond  and  Cianrickard, 
lord  Athenry,  the  knights  Torlogh  O'Brien,  Richard  Burke  na-Irain, 
Donald  O'Conor  of  Sligo,  Brian  O'Rourke,  Morrogh  O'Flaherty  of 
the  battle  axes,  and  others  to  call  before  them  all  lords  spiritual  and 
temporal,  chiefs  and  captains  and  propose  to  substitute  ten  shillings  for 
each  fpiarter  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  bearing  horn  or  corn, 
in  lieu  of  all  cess  or  taxation  except  for  risings  out  and  fortifications 
for  the  general  benefit.  It  was  kindly  received,  and  an  indenture 
dated  the  seventeenth  of  August  was  executed  by  sixty-seven*  of 
the  Irish  chieftains,  and  several  of  the  large  English  proprietors. 
This  was  not  a  surrender,  hardly  a  recognition  of  fealty,  but  a  com- 
position for  the  claim  to  cess  or  tax,  and  yielded  under  duress,  not 
of  mvich  obligation  in  conscience  or  law.  At  a  session  of  the  court  of 
the  whole  province  in  the  monastery  of  Ennis,  five  shillings  for  each 
quarter  in  Thomond  except  from  the  liberties  or  church  lands  was 
allowed  to  the  earl,  who  gave  up  Incliiquin  to  Morrogh  son  of  Dermot, 
son  of  tlie  first  earl,  Corcomroe  to  Torlogh,  son  of  Sir  Donald. 

*  Forty  one  M;ics:  Mac  'William  Eighter  and  Roc,  Mac  Namarn,  Finn  and  Reagh, 
M'Giily,  M'Grlanaghec,  Evcrhin,  Hubbert,  Ouglie,  Crenion,  Walter,  Huirli,  Edmond, 
Gyraugh,  Reainon,  Thomi:?,  Vavy,  Walter,  Dennots,  Roe  and  Gael,  Padyii,  Tybbor,  Phili- 
pen  ;  Connel,  Gloiighe,  Tyrnan,  Kelly,  Gerald,  Reaman,  Kelarny,  Evily,  Costello,  Jordan, 
Murray,  Eiiery,  Loiighlin,  Grannill,  Donoglis,  Many.  Twenty-one  Oes :  O'Rourke, 
Conors  Sligo,  Don  and  Roc,  Kelly,  Flaherty,  M  illy  Heyno,  Madden,  Dowde,  Hara,  Poy 
and  Reagli,  Nauglitan,  Loughliii,  Goff,  Neylan,  Mnrry,  Mailing,  Cowchation,  Byrne,  Flynn, 
Hanlcy,  Harty,  Lorcan,  Flanegan  and  Mulryan. 

Among  others  who  signed  in  Clare  were  the  bishops  and  deans  of  Killaloe  and  Kilfinora, 
Edward,  Watevhouse,  the  two  Mac  Mahons  of  the  Corcavaskins  and  Mac  Namara  of  Moi- 
tullen.  O'Briens  of  Drumlecn  and  Clonoon,  O'Deas  of  Tnllyodea,  Mac  Gilleroy  of 
Cragbri;in,  Bradie,  son  of  the  bishop  of  Meath,  Edward  White  of  Crotelagh,  George 
Cnskck  of  Dromoylan,  O'Grady  of  Inchicronan,  McClanchy  of  the  Ulion,  u'Brians  of 
Ballicourcy,  Bailicassy  and  Cahercorcran  and  George  Fanning  of  Limerick. 


TliANSFER      OF      EKIN.  479 

Inquisitions  at  Cork  professed  to  discover  that  several  lordships 
belonging  to  the  crown  had  been  usurped  by  ])ersons  without  title, 
among  them  Kinelmeaky.  C'onogher  O'Mahony  to  whom  it  l)elonged 
had  perished  in  the  rebellion,  ilis  ancestors  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  years  before,  driving  out  the  interlopers  upon  the  territories  of 
his  sept,  had  divided  them  with  IMcCarthy  Reagh  for  their  better 
security.  It  was  pretended  that  Barry  Oge  had  previously  to  this 
recovery  by  the  O'Mahony  chieftains,  paid  rent  into  the  exchequer, 
and  that  consequently  it  was  the  property  of  the  crown.  Callen  was 
claimed  as  occupied  without  title  by  Eichard  Roach.  Lambert, 
constable  of  Dublin  castle  avIio  had  been  badly  wounded  in  the  war, 
setting  up  a  grant  from  Edward  III.  laid  claim  to  Cloghroe,  which 
with  Ballea,  Courtbreac  and  Castlemore  had  been  settled  on  Cormac 
Mac  Tagh  of  jNIuskerry  some  fifty  years  before.  The  claim  of 
Lambert  was  pronounced  untenable  ten  years  later,  but  tliough  no 
inquest  had  been  held  by  the  chief  justice  as  coroner,  as  required 
by  law,  for  the  forfeiture  of  estates,  where  the  proprietor  had  been 
killed  in  rebellion,  the  crown  title  to  Kinalmeaky  was  upheld  by  the 
English  tribunals,  in  direct  violation  of  rules  they  had  themselves 
constantly  enforced,  against  the  O'Mahonys. 

As  regarded  this  territory,  no  surrender  or  broken  allegiance  could 
be  pretended.  Prescription  or  constructive  possession  by  payment 
of  rent  into  the  treasury,  whilst  the  actual  occupants  paid  none  what- 
soever to  any  one  but  their  own  chieftain,  had  no  ground  to  rest 
upon.  Title  thus  gained  by  rule  of  law  had  been  by  the  same  rule 
lost  by  adverse  possession  for  a  century  without  any  such  payment. 
The  crown  had  no  paramount  claim  under  which  to  confiscate.  If  it 
had  ever  overrun,  it  had  never  subdued  or  held  under  subjection, 
and  what  feeble  hold  it  had  clutched,  had  been  shaken  oflf.  Its  pa- 
pal pretensions  were  equally  fanciful.  "What  Adrian  gave,  Pius  had 
divested.  The  principle  that  local  law  governs  land  titles  lent  them 
no  strength,  since  their  authority  was  never  suflficieutly  established, 


480  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

either  in  fiict,  or  by  superior  power  to  bind  by  legislation.  This  they 
admitted  by  accepting  the  surrenders.  If  in  the  pale  and  palatinates 
where  Englishmen  held  from  the  crown,  violated  allegiance  worked 
forfeiture  and  justified  confiscation,  if  this  applied  to  lands  surren- 
dered and  the  surrenders  availed  against  the  septs,  it  did  not  apply 
to  O'Mahony  who  had  not  surrendered  or  ever  been  subjected. 

Hastings  found  England  in  a  measure  feudal ;  king  over  earl,  earl 
over  thane.  Authority  and  estate  by  subinfeudation  extended  down 
guarded  by  Saxon  liberty.  William  after  Ely  in  1071  having 
crushel  opposition,  confirmed  rather  than  established  feudal  tenures, 
appropriating  fiefs  to  his  own  followers.  No  such  feudal  usages  or 
feudal  law  existed  in  Ireland  a  century  later.  Its  own  complicated 
but  enlightened  system  of  land  tenures  vested  an  allodial  estate  in 
the  septs,  chief  and  clansmen  holding  by  defined  rules.  The  chief 
had  hardly  a  freehold.  Specific  portions  of  jiroperty,  held  for  life  and 
descending  to  heirs  by  custom,  appertained  to  oflfice  and  depended  on 
election.  No  incident  of  feudality,  wardship  or  marriage  attached 
to  the  soil.  The  brehon  law  in  force,  the  chief  could  not  surrender 
what  belonged  to  his  sept,  and  confiscation  could  not  reach  them. 
One  chief  was  put  down  and  another  set  up,  but  the  boundaries 
remained  unchanged.  Respect  for  neighbors'  landmarks  was  of  pecu- 
liar sanctity.  The  same  septs  held  for  centuries,  losing  cattle  or 
paying  tribute,  but  were  never  disturbed  in  possession  by  neighboring 
lord  or  clan,  but  only  by  the  foreign  element,  the  English  invader. 
In  Connaught  the  proposition  by  Perrot  to  substitute  fixed  sums 
for  cess  was  stretched  in  numerous  instances  into  surrender,  to  be  fol- 
lowed up  with  a  regrant  by  patent  occasionally  withheld.  By  English 
rule,  patents  were  to  be  enrolled  in  order  to  be  produced  in  evidence. 
This  was  purposely  neglected.  Three  thousand  pounds,  later  appro- 
priated to  make  good  the  oversight  of  patentees  or  covin  of  officials 
who  received  the  money  but  disobeyed  the  law,  vanished,  and  evi- 
dence required   not  forthcoming,   lands  were  lost.       The   chiefs  in 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  481 

surrcntlering  were  in  a  measure  prompted  by  the  conviction  that 
conformity  to  EngHsh  hiw  under  existing  conditions  was  wisest  and 
best,  both  for  their  clans  and  for  themselves.  But  not  many  years 
had  elapsed  before  their  lands  on  one  pretext  or  another  were  wrested 
away  from  them,  their  families  died  out  or  disappeared,  and 
their  clans  became  hereditary  bondsmen  to  the  dominant  race, 
who  by  chicanery  had  outwitted  their  confiding  and  less  astute  vic- 
tims. Thus  in  the  inception  of  title,  disregard  of  rules  parliament 
had  established  and  of  principles  recognized  by  the  courts,  there 
were  fotal  defects  in  all  these  transfers,  which  nothing  but  the  law 
of  limitations  has  cured.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  landed  interest 
will  bear  this  in  mind  in  generous  concession,  and  avoid  such  retri- 
butions as  befel  the  chieftains. 

Long,  consecrated  lord  primate  of  Armagh  in  July,  1584,  in  the 
place  of  Jones,  found  "  the  churches  fallen  into  dilapidation,  that 
children  and  laymen  held  livings  and  benefices  with  cure,  and  that 
clergymen  were  tolerated  to  have  three  or  four  pastoral  dignities,  who 
themselves  unlearned  were  not  meet  to  instruct  others."  Parliament 
endeavored  to  reform  the  court  of  faculties  established  to  regulate  the 
clergy,  to  stay  ecclesiastical  corruption,  but  Long  says  to  little  pur- 
pose ;  both  clergy  and  laity  going  in  a  wild  gallop  to  the  devil.  Hart, 
bishop  of  Achonry  who  had  attended  the  council  of  Trent,  having 
renounced  the  pope  and  his  see,  he  wrote  that  if  they  did  not 
use  this  people  more  for  gain  than  for  conscience,  the  Lord's  work 
would  be  mightily  preferred.  He  complained  that  the  justices  of 
the  peace  and  lords  of  the  pale  would  not  take  the  oath  of  supremacy. 
AValsingham  replied  that  the  course  of  the  deputy  as  regarded 
the  reformation  would  have  better  suited  the  times  of  Henry  VHI. 
when  princes  persisted  in  honorable  attempts,  than  their  own  which 
had  other  manners  of  proceeding,  and  Perrot  must  conform.  The 
plan  of  the  deputy  for  appropriating  St.  Patrick's  for  a  university 

angered  Loftus.     His  other  measures  of  reform  alarmed  the  officials. 
61 


482  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Representations  were  made  for  his  removal,  even  a  letter  forged 
from  Tm-logh  O'Neil,  but  both  Long  and  himself  were  too  strong  in 
their  integrity  to  shake. 

Burkes  and  Binghams  were  over  much  for  Connaught.  The  death 
of  Sir  Richard-na-Irain*  led  to  a  disputed  succession .  The  new  gov- 
ernor at  first  affected  moderation,  but  this  was  not  his  natural  temper. 
At  a  court  held  in  January  1586,  seventy  men  and  women  were  put 
to  dearth,  Donnel  O'Brien,  Brian  O'Hara,  and  many  besides.  Thomas 
Roe,  one  of  the  principal  Burkes  rudely  summoned  to  his  presence,  was 
slain  when  refusing  to  come,  and  two  of  his  followers  executed.  The 
chiefs,  too  much  incensed  and  disgusted  at  these  outrages  to  attend 
his  court,  he  resorted  to  violence  to  compel  them.  The  castle  of 
Clonoon  he  took  and  demolished,  Owen  O'Brien f  its  chief  ftilling  in 
its  defence.  He  then  besieged  Hash's  castle,  on  an  island  in  Lough 
Mask  in  Mayo,  reputed  one  of  the  strongest  in  the  west,  into  which 
Richard,  brother  of  the  Burke  above  mentioned,  had  thrown  him- 
self with  a  slender  following.  The  governor,  his  men  killed  and  his 
boats  shattered  by  shot  from  the  castle  and  himself  thrown  into  the 
water,  was  forced  to  swim  ashore  for  safety.  Not  sufficiently  strong 
or  provided  with  artillery  to  contend  with  such  force  as  the  irate 
commander  could  bring  to  bear  against  him,  the  chief  and  his  warders 
crossed  to  the  main  land,  where  overtaken  they  also  were  executed. 

*  Allusion  has  been  made  to  his  wife,  the  bold  buccaneer,  and  her  visit  to  court  in  1576, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  queen,  who  proi)osed  to  make  her  a  countess,  an  honor  she  declined 
as  they  were  both  princesses,  but  prayed  the  queen  bestow  what  honors  she  pleased  on  her 
infant  son,  born  on  the  voyage  across.  On  her  return  she  landed  at  Howth  for  provisions, 
and  the  gates  closed  as  the  family  were  at  dinner,  admittance  was  refused.  The  child  of 
the  lord  of  the  castle  was  playing  by  the  sea  shore,  and  him  she  took  on  board  her  ship 
and  carried  ofl"  to  Connaught,  and  refused  to  restore  him  till  promise  was  made  that  the 
castle  gate  should  never  be  closed  again  at  dinner  time.  From  her  galleys  that  lay  off  her 
castle  of  Carrigahooly  extended  a  rope  into  the  apartment  where  she  slept  to  apprise  her  of 
any  hostile  approach  or  prey  worthy  of  her  notice. 

t  Son  of  Turlogh  bishop  "of  Killaloe,  son  of  Mahon,  son  of  Mahon,  fifth  son  of  Torlogh 
Bog,  king  of  Thomond,  who  died  in  1459,  and  Catherine  Burke  of  Cianrickard.  Chief  of 
Sliocht  Mahon  of  which  the  present  baronets  of  Castlegar  are  supposed  head,  "  he  was  cham- 
pion of  the  pope  and  great  practiser  with  foreign  powers  for  the  invasion  of  Ireland,"  as  was 
also  Donogh  his  son,  now  represented  by  the  head  of  the  Carbally  or  Ennis  bi-anch,  the 
eminent  barrister  of  London.  Bingham  gave  his  territory  to  George  son  of  chancellor 
Cusack,  killed  in  1599  by  Turlogh,  Owen's  eldest  son,  who  three  years  later  was  slain  by 
John  Burke  in  Hy-Many.  By  their  kinsmen  the  Clanrickards  this  branch  again  rose  to 
position.  The  name  of  O'Brien,  dropped  as  usual  when  losing  their  inheritance,  all  the 
Mahons  of  the  west  descend  from  Owen. 


TRANSFEU     OF     ERIN.  483 

Perrot  disapproving  these  tyrannical  proceedings  bade  the  governor 
desist.  But  the  council  headed  by  Loftus,  whose  natural  dislike  to 
the  deputy,  for  thwarting  his  plans  and  seeking  to  reform  abuses,  was 
aggravated  by  the  proposed  appropriation  of  one  of  his  cathedrals  for 
a  college,  sided  with  the  governor,  refusing  Perrot  permission  to  go 
into  Connaught  to  restore  order.  The  governor  thus  encouraged  to 
persevere  in  his  savage  course,  what  little  affection  for  English  rule 
existed  turned  into  implacable  I'esentment,  and  the  chiefs  gathered  in 
strength  for  resistance.  Joyces,  Clandoncll  and  Clangibbon came  to 
aid.  Several  thousand  Scots  landing  at  Inishowen  marched  through 
Donegal  and  Fermanagh  to  Lough  Erne  to  join  them.  Bingham 
put  to  death  his  hostages  and  gathering  his  garrisons  and  summon- 
ing Ulick  with  his  men  from  Clanrickard,  kept  out  of  view,  till  he 
had  organized  his  army.  The  hostile  force  finding  the  bridge  at  Col- 
lony  strongly  guarded,  crossed  the  river  by  a  ford  and  encamped  at 
Ardnaree.  Not  expecting  attack,  strong  detachments  went  out  to 
maraud.  Bingham  after  a  night's  march  broke  in  upon  their  main 
force  at  noon  the  next  day,  when  their  camp  was  in  confusion.  The 
men  sleeping  off  their  fatigues  were  aroused  by  the  cries  of  their 
sentinels  who  were  being  slaughtered. 

The  Scots  fought  their  best,  but  did  not  recover  the  effect  of  the 
surprise,  and  routed  were  driven  in  to  the  Moy,  two  thousand  being 
slain.  This  victory  gained  by  Bingham  on  the  twenty-second  of 
September,  1586,  was  followed  by  a  court  held  at  Galway  in  Decem- 
ber, when  still  more  men  and  women  were  indiscriminately  put  to 
death.  His  captains  raided  the  province,  O'Toole  chief  of  Omey, 
an  island  off  Connamara,  was  slain,  and  Edmund  Burke  a  withered 
old  man  of  respectable  position  and  character  executed.  The  deputy 
when  he  heard  of  the  landing  of  the  Scots  and  what  they  were  doing 
marched  to  reinforce  the  governor,  but  Avhen  he  learned  the  result 
of  the  battle  of  Ardnaree  he  returned  home. 

When  parliament  again  assembled  to  attaint  Gerald,  the  deed  of 


484  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

trust  of  1576,  already  mentioned,  was  urged  as  sufficient  to  protect 
his  estates  from  confiscation.  Upon  this,  articles  of  association,  dated 
two  years  before,  on  the  eighteenth  of  July,  1574,  between  himself 
and  twenty-two  of  his  tributaries  and  allies,  wherein  they  pledged 
life,  land  and  goods  to  resist  any  attempt  of  deputy  or  council  to  de- 
prive him  wrongfully  of  his  property,  were  produced  as  treasonable 
acts,  invalidating  the  subsequent  conveyance.  This  plainly  against 
law  and  precedent,  as  any  such  infringement  of  his  vested  rights  by 
violence  without  due  legal  process,  as  that  menaced,  would  have 
justified  resistance,  was  resisted.  An  ex  post  facto  law,  constitut- 
ing such  combinations  treasonable  and  making  void  conveyances, 
made  as  his  had  been,  did  not  remove  the  difficulty.  But  the  gov- 
ernment, in  no  humor  to  regard  constitutional  objections,  pressed  the 
attainder,  which  after  much  legislation  and  protracted  debate,  finally 
passed,  declaring  all  his  lands  and  those  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
of  his  kinsmen  and  dependents  forfeited  to  the  crown.  The  area 
embraced  in  these  confiscations  covered  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty-eight  acres,  or  about  a  thousand 
square  miles  ;  the  annual  revenue,  probably  payable  for  the  most  part 
in  kind  or  in  service,  being  estimated  at  four  hundred  thousand  marks. 
The  Desmonds  claimed  supremacy,  and  exacted  tribute  when  they 
were  in  power,  over  areas  as  large  again  as  what  was  thus  confiscated. 
Of  this  vast  territory  large  portions  wei'e  restored  to  Condons, 
Fitzgibbons  and  other  Geraldines.  Less  than  half,  two  hundred 
and  forty-five  thousand  acres,  were  granted  in  thirty-two  seignories, 
to  undertakers  in  parcels  generally  of  twelve  thousand  acres,  each 
grant  conditioned  on  the  settlement  of  eighty-six  families.  It  was 
anticipated  that  thus  twenty  thousand  English  would  avail  themselves 
of  the  very  reasonable  terms  to  come  over.  Many  came,  especially 
from  the  southern  and  western  counties,  from  Somerset,  Dorset  and 
Devon,  younger  sons  of  respectable  families,  some  of  them  taking 
under  several  landlords. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  485 

According  to  Morrison,  30,560  acres  in  Kerry  and  Desmond, 
with  yearly  rents  of  524  1.  3  s.,  were  passed  by  patent  to  Sir  ^Vil- 
liam  Herbert,  Carol  Herbert,  Sir  Valentine  Browne,  besides  an 
uncertain  portion  to  George  Stone  and  Jolui  Chapman.  In  Limer- 
ick 90,165  acres,  with  yearly  rents  of  933  1.  4  s.  to  Sir  Henry 
Billinsly,  William  Carter,  Edmund  Mannering,  AVilliam  Trenchard, 
Sir  George  Thornton,  Richard  Fitton,  Robert  Annesley,  Edward 
Berkeley,  Sir  Henry  Uthered,  Sir  William  Courtney  and  Robert 
Stroude.  In  Cork  88,337  acres,  Avith  annual  rents  of  512  1.  7  1-2  s. 
to  Vane  Beecher,  Henry  North,  Arthur  Rawlins,  Arthur  Hide, 
Hugh  Cuffe,  Sir  Thomas  Norris,  Warham  St.  Leger,  Sir  Thomas 
Stoyes,  INIaster  Spenser,  Thomas  Fleetwood  and  Marmaduke  Ed- 
munds. In  Waterford  and  Tipperary  22,910  acres,  with  rents  of 
303  1.  3  d.  to  Ormond,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  Sir  Edward  Fitton 
and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.*  These  undertakers  did  not  people  their 
seignories  with  well  affected  English  as  covenanted,  but  either  sold 
them  to  English  papists  or  disposed  of  them  to  their  best  profit. 
Neither  did  they  build  castles,  and  her  majesty's  bounty  turned  not 
to  strengthen  but  rather  to  weaken  the  government  in  Munster. 

Desmond's  confiscations  had  little  warrant  from  precedent.  Ilis 
ancestors  wrested  portions  of  their  vast  domains  from  the  septs, 
more  had  vested  in  their  line  by  purchase,  inheritance  or  gTant.  If 
in  their  veins  flowed  as  large  a  measure  of  Milesian  blood  as  of 
Nesta  or  Plantagenet,  if  to  preserve  what  fell  to  their  lot  they  were 
often  engaged  in  i"ebellion,  it  was  owing  to  the  ties  that  bound  Ger- 
aldines  and  Burkes  to  the  Irish  chieftains,  that  England  retained 
what  hold  she  had  of  the  island.  Often  before  English  lords  had 
been  subjected  to  fine  and  forfeiture  or  even  decapitation,  but  their 

*  Mageogli.in  adds  to  the  above  names  John  Holly,  Captain  Jenkin  Conway,  and  John 
Campion  instead  of  Chapman ;  in  Cork,  Hugh  Worth  and  Thomas  Say  ;  in  CoVk  and  Wa- 
terford, Richard  Bacon.  Ormond,  claiming  all  Desmond  as  his  inheritance,  Iiesidcs  the  estates 
in  Tipperary  received  also  a  large  portion  of  the  peninsula  of  Corkagniney,  later  surrendered 
in  whole  or  in  part  to  the  Icnight  of  Ken-y.  The  rent  tixed  per  acre  for  tJie  settlers  was  three 
pence  in  Limerick,  Conello  and  Kerry,  two  pence  in  Cork  or  Waterford,  about  twenty-five 
hundred  pounds,  no  large  return  for  such  an  exteut  of  territorj'. 


48G  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

estates  if  sequestered  were  restored  to  their  lineal  heirs  and  pardon 
speedily  followed  submission.  Gerald  had  been  patient  under  injury 
and  insult.  Cast  into  prison,  duped  and  trifled  with  by  the  queen  and 
her  representatives,  It  was  in  self-defence  that  he  was  provoked  to 
resistance,  and  then  under  circumstances  more  excusable  than  had 
often  justified  concession  and  forgiveness  not  to  one  race  alone  but 
to  both.  If  smarting  under  wrong  he  hearkened  rather  to  resent- 
ment than  to  more  prudent  counsels,  no  Geraldine  experience  in  the 
past  foreshadowed  the  approaching  catastrophe  in  the  irretrievable 
downfall  of  his  house. 

It  was  a  fearful  wreck.  Desolation  brooded  over  Munster.  Frcwn 
Tralee  to  Youghal  extended  a  howling  wilderness.  Famine  and 
pestilence  were  at  work  and  wolves  fattening  on  human  flesh.  War 
had  penetrated  far  beyond  any  previous  limits.  Artillery  employed  a 
century  earlier,  now  greatly  improved,  had  battered  down  wall  and 
battlement.  Castles  in  dilapidation,  towns  and  villages  in  ashes, 
not  even  the  cabin  spared,  what  remained  of  the  wretched  inhabit- 
ants hid  in  caverns  or  clefts  of  rock  among  the  mountains,  to  perish 
of  hungrer  and  cold.  Younger  sons  and  other  adventurers  from  over 
the  sea  eagerly  responded  to  the  call  of  undertakers  to  colonize  what 
once  was  the  garden  of  the  land,  but  dismayed  at  the  misery  that 
surrounded  them  and  the  angry  menace  of  the  despoiled,  speedily 
forsook  these  sorry  substitutes  for  the  comfortable  homes  they  had 
left. 

More  sanguine  spirits  favorably  circumstanced  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  opportunities  presented,  bought  cheap  claims  thus 
abandoned,  and  when  the  country  nearly  depopulated  oflfered  safer 
abode,  others  equally  enterprising  flocked  in.  Several  of  the  grantees 
sold  out  to  speculators.  The  powerful  at  court  were  permitted  to 
retain  without  complying  with  the  conditions.  Contrary  to  the  stip- 
ulated restrictions,  leases  were  made  to  native  tenants  who  preferred 
to  till  for  others  their  ancestral  lands  than  starve.     The  old  race  soon 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  487 

repossessed  themselves  as  tenants  at  low  rents  of  mncli  of  the  land, 
and  very  little  was  accomplished  by  all  this  expense  of  money  and 
conscience  for  th.e  purposes  intended.  Later  wars  divested  both 
them  and  their  taskmasters,  but  numerous  families  still  hold  under 
titles  derived  from  these  Desmond  confiscations. 

Raleigh  for  a  brief  period  took  up  his  abode  at  Youghal,  of  which 
place  he  served  as  mayor.  His  house  at  Myrtle  Grove,  where  he 
dwelt,  and  where  he  planted  the  potato  brought  from  America, 
remains  much  as  wlien  he  left  it.  The  widow  of  the  twelfth  Des- 
mond, 1464-1604,  already  aged,  resided  on  his  grant  in  the  castle  of 
Inchiquin.  His  restless  spirit  led  to  expense,  and  his  forty  thou- 
sand acres  were  sold  to  liichard  Boyle  first  earl  of  Cork,  who  coming 
into  Ireland  with  less  than  thirty  pounds,  had  a  rental  wlien  he  died 
of  forty  thousand.  Askeaton  and  Lismore,  homes  of  the  Des- 
monds, were  his,  and  passed  with  much  else  of  his  vast  accumula- 
tions through  Cliffords  to  the  dukes  of  Devonshire. 

Not  the  least  distingLiished  among  the  undertakers  was  Edmund 
Spenser,  who  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven  in  1580  as  private  secretary 
attended  lord  Grey  at  the  Smerwick  slaughter.  Six  years  later  lord 
of  Kilcolman  Castle,  and  three  thousand  acres  on  the  Mulla  near 
Fermoy  in  Cork,  part  of  the  spoils,  he  there  composed  portions  of  his 
Fairy  Queen,  and  entertained  Raleigh,  whom  he  accompanied  to 
London  to  publish  it  in  1591.  There  again  afterwards,  while  clerk 
of  the  Munster  council,  he  wrote  his  view  of  L'cland,  an  able  work, 
and  took  to  wife  an  Irish  maiden,  one  of  his  children  perishing  in 
the  conflagration  of  his  castle  in  the  Tyrone  war  of  1598,  which 
year  he  died  poor  in  London,  as  Ben  Jonson  writes  Drummond  of 
Hawthornden. 

His  famous  poem  derived  incident  and  illustration  from  his 
experience  and  observation  in  a  land  where  knights  errant,  forlorn 
da,msels  and  perilous  adventure  abounded  ;  Avhere  spectres  and  seem- 
ingly supernatural  occurrences  haunted  the  popular  imagination  ;  and 


488  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

characters  of  noblest  heroism  or  basest  brutality  combined  with 
desperate  conflicts,  cruel  martyrdoms  and  shattered  thrones,  amidst 
natural  scenery  of  great  variety  and  beauty,  afforded  material  to  be 
wrought  into  imperishable  verse  by  his  poetic  genius.  To  delineate 
human  nature  in  its  best  development  by  contrast  or  example  under 
the  influences  of  chivalric  institutions,  then  coming  to  an  end,  was 
what  he  aimed  to  accomplish,  and  for  this  he  was  favorably  placed, 
and  the  times  opportune. 

The  most  remarkable  personage  of  the  period  Avas  Hugh  O'Neil. 
Whether  his  father  Ferdoragh  was  son  of  the  first  earl  of  Tyrone  or 
of  the  blacksmith  of  Dundalk  has  never  been  determined.  If  the  latter 
hypothesis  be  correct,  he  was  an  O'Kclly  of  Breggia  and  the  other 
parent  of  Hugh  was  Joanna  Maguire  of  Fermanagh.  Born  about  the 
time  his  father  was  created  baron  of  Dungannon,  natural  endow- 
ments of  a  high  order,  an  amiable  disposition  with  prepossessing 
manners  and  attractive  person,  rendered  the  youth  a  favorite  alike 
with  his  clansmen  and  with  the  queen  and  her  court.  The  best 
schools  afforded  him  advantages  which  he  carefully  improved,  and 
long  residence  near  the  queen  and  her  ministers  inspired  him  with 
confidence  which  was  strength  in  his  power  to  cope  with  them. 
Certainly  in  duplicity  and  dissimulation  he  was  fully  their  match. 
He  had  married  early  in  life  an  O'Toole  w^hom  he  divorced ;  Judith 
O'Donnel  daughter  of  Hugh  brought  him  seven  children ;  his  third 
wife,  the  beautiful  Mabel  Bagnal,  in  1591  eloped  with  him ;  and  his 
last  who  survived  him,  daughter  of  Magennis,  lord  Iveagh,  was  his 
companion  in  exile  at  Rome,  where  he  died  aged  and  blind  in  1616. 
During  his  early  manhood,  subjected  to  jealous  scrutiny,  it  was 
only  in  the  army  of  the  queen  that  he  could  acquire  experience  in 
arms.  In  1580  he  took  part  in  the  expedition  against  the  Sjjaniards 
at  Smerwick,  serving  with  distinction,  and  four  years  later  with 
Perrot  and  Ormond  in  that  against  the  Scots  of  Ulster.  Standing 
high  in  royal  favor  in  1587  he  w^as  created  an  earl  and  placed  in  pos- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  489 

session  of  Tyrone.  Permitted  to  maintain  in  his  pay  six  companies, 
he  changed  his  men  till  the  great  body  of  his  clan  had  become 
efficient  soldiers.  The  lead  imported  for  his  new  castle  of  Dungan- 
non,  in  ([uantities  sufficient  to  sheet  the  mountains,  was  run  into 
balls.  He  made  friends  of  the  jNIacDonnels,  fostered  his  son  witli 
O'Cahan,  and  conciliating  his  vassal  chiefs  was  elected  and  inaugu- 
rated the  O'Xeill  at  the  rath  of  Tulloghoge.  The  tragedy  of 
Fotheringay  quickening  catholic  resentment,  wrecks  from  the  armada 
strewed  his  shores.  The  rescued  Spaniards  found  cordial  welcome 
beneath  his  roof.  While  cautious  not  to  excite  suspicion  by  careless 
word  or  imprudent  act,  subsequent  events  proved  plainly  the  nature 
of  their  conferences  and  what  Avere  already  his  designs. 

Four  score  years  had  hardly  chilled  the  ardor  of  Sorley.     The 
massacre  of  his  children  ten  years  before  at  Kathleen  had  wrung  his 
heart,  and  his  son  Aleck  perished  in  these  wars  under  circumstances 
not  chivalric.      Challenging  an  English  captain  to  personal  combat, 
the  invitation  was  accepted ,  but  the  captain  substituted  in  his  own  armor 
an  antagonist  more  powerful  than  himself,  who  was  slain,  and  then 
continued  the  fight  with  the  help  of  Hugh  O'Donnel  son  of  Calvagh. 
Mac  Donnel,  mortally  wounded,  had  strength  remaining  to  swim 
across  the  Lough,  but  pursued,  his  head  was  cut  off  and  sent  to  the 
capital.     This  blow,  however  much  it  may  have  agonized   Sorley, 
yet  taught  him  to  dissemble.     In  June,  1586,  he  made  obeisance 
to  the  portrait  of    the  queen,  swearing    allegiance    and    receiving 
rich    robes  of  crimson  velvet  and    gold  which  she  had    sent   him, 
and  also  restitution  of  Dunluce  and  other  portions  of  his  domains. 
Whilst  at  Dublin,  an  official  invited  him  to  look  at  Aleck's  head  on 
a  pike  at  the  castle  gate.    He  exclaimed,  horror  stricken  and  groaning, 
"my  son   hath  many  heads."     The  brave  old   chieftain  survived  till 
1589,  when  he  died  at  his  castle  of  Donanynie.     His  remains  were 
carried  down   the  slope    of  the  castle    hill  past  the  harbor  where 

he  had  so  often  welcomed  the  Clandonnel  to  the  shores  of  Antrim, 
62 


490  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

and  by  the  ford  to  the  abbey  of  Bunnaniairge,  the  Irish  caoine  and 
Scotch  coronach  mingling  in  one  wild  wail  for  the  dead.  His  wife, 
Mary  O'Niel,  sister  of  Shane,  had  died  in  1582,  and  Donnel  and 
Aleck  had  preceded  him  to  the  tomb.  James  succeeded,  surviving 
till  1601,  when  according  to  tradition  he  was  poisoned  by  an  emissary 
of  Cecil.  Randal  the  third  son,  in  1620,  was  created  first  earl  of 
Antrim. 

Perrot  himelf,  actuated  by  honesty  of  purpose  and  with  hearty 
contempt  for  officials  who  thwarted  his  efforts  for  their  own  sordid 
ends,  wearied  of  his  work.  "  Neglected  in  England  and  denied  the 
support  necessary  for  his  government,  mortified  in  various  instances 
by  his  royal  sister,  traduced  by  the  unceasing  malice  of  his  enemies, 
and  insulted  by  his  inferiors  at  the  council  board,"  his  request  even 
to  be  recalled  was  refused.  In  May,  1587,  a  personal  altercation  with 
the  marshal,  Nicholas  Bagnall,  in  presence  of  high  functionaries  of  his 
court,  in  the  course  of  which  the  lie  was  freely  interchanged,  would 
have  come  to  an  actual  breach  of  the  peace,  had  not  White  and  Fen- 
ton  interfered.  One  of  the  best  friends  of  the  Irish  ever  deputy, 
Perrot  loved  fair  play,  and  strove  to  protect  them  from  official  de- 
predations. He  wrote  the  queen  he  could  better  please  them  than 
her  English  subjects.  The  marshal  had  already  acquired  extensive 
possessions  in  Ulster,  but  coveted  more,  and  bent  on  the  destruction  of 
the  O'Neils,  the  deputy  stood  in  his  path. 

Mary  queen  of  Scots,  on  the  eighth  of  February,  lost  that  beau- 
tiful head  of  hers,  baleful  and  bewitching  as  Medusa's,  and  Spain 
bristled  with  vast  preparation,  to  culminate  another  year  in  the  in- 
vincible armada.  Irish  chieftains  alive  to  what  impended,  and  restless 
with  expectation,  became  objects  of  vigilance,  and  the  deputy  where 
he  could,  exacted  hostages  to  hold  them  under  restraint.  O'Donnel 
too  remote  for  coercion  found  plentiful  pretexts  for  refusing  such 
pledges,  which  his  clans  would  have  regarded  as  badges  of  servitude. 
The  royal    sheriffs  were  not   allowed  to  come  within  his   borders. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  491 

Joan  Ills  daughter  had  married  the  earl  of  Tyrone.  Turlogh,  aged 
and  infirm,  from  subservience  to  the  pale  had  lost  favor  with  his 
people,  who  transferred  their  affections  if  not  their  allegiance  to  the 
earl.  Schemes  for  keeping  Ulster  weak  by  dissension,  stale  and  no 
longer  efficacious,  its  two  principal  powers,  at  amity,  might  become 
dangerous  in  the  coming  strife,  unless  hostages  could  be  procured. 
Recourse  to  compulsion  would  have  been  impolitic  and  precipitated 
a  rising,  and  the  royal  army  was  too  weak  for  any  such  measures. 
In  his  zeal,  the  deputy  resorted  to  stratagem,  leaving  a  stain  on  a 
character  generally  estimable.  After  consultation  with  his  council 
he  sent  John  Birmingham,  a  merchant  of  Dublin,  in  a  bark  laden 
with  wine  and  with  fifty  soldiers  on  board,  to  Lough  Svvilly,  where 
they  anchored  near  RathmuUan,  a  castle  of  ]Mac  Sweeny  Fanad, 
hereditary  constable  of  Tyrconnel.  Portions  of  the  cargo  carried 
ashore  attracted  a  concourse  to  purchase,  and  the  hospitable  chief 
entertained  the  young  nobles  drawn  thither  by  the  natural  fondness 
of  idle  men  for  carousals. 

HughRoe,  son  of  Hugh  O'Donnel,  chief  of  Tyrconnel,  by  Ineenduf 
daughter  of  James  Macdonnel,  then  though  only  fourteen  already 
f:\med  for  his  wisdom,  noble  dispositions  and  deeds,  chanced  to  be 
on  a  visit  of  recreation  or  devotion  wath  his  ollavs  to  the  neighborhood, 
w4iere  he  had  been  brought  up  in  fosterage  by  Owen  Mac  Sweeney 
of  Tuath.*  His  companions  easily  persuaded  him  to  repair  to  Rath- 
mullan,  where  he  received  a  cordial  welcome,  but  came  late,  for  the 
flagons  were  empty.  Cupbearers  despatched  for  additional  supplies 
were  told  that  the  wine  not  needed  for  the  ship  was  all  sold,  but  a  small 

*  The  third  Donegal  branch  of  the  MacSweenys,  that  of  Banagh,  were  in  troubles  of 
their  own.  Brian  Oge,  its  chief  two  years  before  had  been  slain  by  his  brother  Niai,  who 
banishing  Donosh  another  brother  succeeded  to  the  chieftainry.  Donogh  had  betaken  him- 
self first  to  the  English  and  then  to  the  O'Neils,  but  returning  he  laid  in  wait  for  Nial  on 
the  strand  in  Bovlagh,  opposite  Aran.  A  l)attle  ensued  at  Derryness,  in  wliich  Nial  with  a 
great  number  of' his  followers  and  of  the  Clan  Sweeny  of  Munster  were  slain,  and  Donogh 
ruled  in  his  stead.  Some  doubt  exists  as  to  this  race.  Some  derive  them  from  the  De  Veres, 
others  from  the  vikings  of  the  Baltic;  but  Four  Masters,  p.  1861,  cite  Irwin  1697  as  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  this  warlike  sept,  though  an  offshoot  from  the  O'Xials,  came 
into  Donegal  from  Scotland  where  M'Swaue's  casfle  in  Knapdale  in  Argyleshire  was  their 
chief's  abode. 


492  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

party  were  invited  aboard.  Fanad,  Tuath  and  Sir  Owen  O'Gallaglier 
with  Hugh,  rowed  over  in  a  small  boat,  were  conducted  to  the  cabin 
and  partook  freely  of  the  generous  beverage,  till  their  arms  stealthily 
removed  and  the  hatch  closed,  they  found  themselves  prisoners.  Sails 
were  set  and  anchor  raised.  The  people  suspecting  treachery  flocked  to 
the  shore.  There  was  no  help.  No  vessels  were  at  hand  for  pursuit. 
Fanad  sent  for  his  son  Daniel  as  hostage  for  himself,  Tuath  for  his 
son  in  whose  stead  appeared  another  boy  in  his  dress,  O'Gallagherfor 
his  nephew  Hugh.  Large  ransom  was  offered  for  the  young 
O'Donnel,  but  the  vessel  carried  him  and  his  three  companions  to 
Dublin. 

Brought  before  the  deputy  and  council  they  engaged  him  in  con- 
versation that  they  might  learn  what  he  was  likely  to  prove  when 
older.  They  then  ordered  him  to  be  placed  in  confinement  in  the 
Birmingham  tower  where  the  other  government  hostages  were  kept, 
and  where  their  only  occupation  to  beguile  their  weariness  was  to 
lament  their  suffering  and  troubles  and  the  cruelties  practised  on  Irish 
chiefs.  This  capture  was  said  to  have  delayed  the  rising  of  Ulster 
for  several  years,  since  so  long  as  the  life  of  his  son  might  be  en- 
dangered by  hostilities,  O'Donnel  took  care  not  to  provoke  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  pale,  though  not  refraining  from  warfare  nearer  home. 

Possibly  Turlogh  may  have  been  held  responsible  for  this  act  of 
perfidy.  O'Donnel  and  the  earl  his  son-in-law,  in  April,  1588, 
crossed  the  Mourne  and  Derg  to  Carricklee  in  Strabane  with  an 
army.  Mostin  from  Connaught,  Macsweenys  from  Munster, 
O'Flaherty  with  O'Gallagher  joined  Turlogh  and  his  son  Art  to  op- 
pose them.  Gallagher  not  deeming  honorable  a  nocturnal  attack  as 
urged,  distinguished  himself  in  a  fiercely  fought  battle  on  the  morrow, 
which  was  INIay  day,  in  defeating  the  earl,  who  left  behind  him  on  the 
field  many  men  and  horses,  and  much  spoil  for  the  victors. 

Ineenduf,  like  her  mother  Agnes,  wife  of  Turlogh,  Avith  many 
feminine   graces,    united  an  energy  of  character  befitting  the  times 


T  K  A  N  S  r  E  R      OF      ERIN.  493 

and  circumstances  of  her  position  as  helpmate  of  a  chieftain. 
Hugh,  son  of  Calvagh,  had  sided  with  Turlogh  against  her  husband 
and  his  son-in-law  the  earl  of  Tyrone.  lie  had  taken  part  in  killing 
her  cousin  Alexander,  son  of  Sorley  Boy,  he  was  an  object  of  her 
aversion  for  his  pride  and  arrogance,  and  the  had  moreover  other 
causes  of  enmity  against  him .  Her  Scotch  auxiliaries  had  promised 
to  wreak  vengeance  upjn  her  enemies,  and  when  Hugh  came  to 
Mongalvin,  where  she  chanced  to  be,  with  a  proud  and  exultant  spirit, 
the  angry  cliieftainess,  in  whose  veins  coursed  the  hot  surges  of 
highland  temper,  reminded  them  of  this  pledge.  They  attacked  him 
and  his  company  with  darts  and  bullets,  leaving  him  lifeless. 

AYhether  the  queen  needed  him  to  fight  against  tlie  Spaniard,  or 
official  jealousy  had  finally  effected  its  end,  Perrot,  in  July,  1588, 
left  Ireland.  He  took  the  precaution  before  transferring  the  govern- 
ment to  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  to  persuade  the  chiefs,  whom  he 
thouojht  vacillatino;  in  their  alleoiance,  to  volunteer  their  hostao:es 
and  give  assurance  of  their  loyalty.  Accompanied  a  second  time 
by  the  regrets  of  all  the  well  disposed  of  either  race,  and  attended 
to  the  shore  by  the  aged  Turlogh  who  wept  to  part  with  him,  he 
went  home  to  take  his  place  at  the  council  board.  But  presuming 
on  his  relation  to  his  royal  sister,  he  spoke  slightingly  of  her  and 
of  Hatton,  her  "dancing  chancellor."  The  latter  was  no  enemy  to 
provoke  with  impunity.  Through  his  means,  though  he  did  not  live 
to  see  the  end,  for  he  died  himself  in  1591,  broken  hearted  at  royal 
ingratitude,  inquiry  was  instituted  into  the  conduct  of  the  late  deputy 
in  his  Irish  administration.  His  secretary  boi-e  witness  against  him 
that  he  had  favored  the  catholic  clergy,  and  incited  O'Rourkes  and 
Burkes  to  revolt.  The  charges  were  not  even  plausible,  but  he 
frankly  acknowledged  that  in  moments  of  irritation  he  had  let  fall 
expressions  disrespectful  to  the  queen  and  her  advisers.  Condemned 
to  death,  some  poisonous  potion  or  like  trouble  tollatton's,  two  years 
later,  saved  him  from  tlie  execution  of  his  sentence. 


494  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 


XXXVIII. 

REIGN    OF    ELIZABETH. 1558-1602.— (Continued. ) 

Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  had  been  for  more  than  thirty  years  connec- 
ted with  the  government,  five  times  as  lord  justice,  when  now  he  was 
placed  for  the  third  time  at  its  head  as  lord  deputy.  Descended  from 
the  mxin  stem  of  his  name  flourishing  for  centuries  at  Sprotborough 
in  Yorkshire,  the  family  estates  had  recently  passed  by  an  heiress  to 
the  Copleys  who  still  hold.  His  grandfather,  a  sixth  son  of  a  former 
lord,  made  a  fortune  in  trade  in  London,  and  proved  a  faithful 
friend  of  Wolsey  even  in  disgrace.  The  deputy,  born  in  1.52G,  had 
married  a  sister  of  Sir  Henry  Sydney,  an  alliance  which  proved  use- 
ful to  him  in  his  official  course  and  explains  its  success.  Not  satisfied 
with  his  appointments  as  deputy,  he  was  given  to  understand  that 
the  place  was  a  preferment  not  a  service,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  tradition  of  the  modes  to  which  he  had  recourse  to  turn  it  to 
account,  may  have  been  exaggerated.  His  example,  contrasting  to 
his  disadvantage  with  that  of  his  predecessor,  set  free  his  subordi- 
nates from  any  restraint  upon  their  cupidity,  and  no  opportunity  was 
lost  to  fleece  the  queen's  flocks  where  powerless  to  resist. 

Whilst  assuming  charge  of  affairs  in  Dublin,  the  vaunted  armada 
approached  the  coasts  of  England.  Its  menace  had  led  to  fitting 
preparation.  If  neither  Medina  Sidonia  nor  Effingham  possessed 
much  nautical  experience,  they  had  captains  under  tliem  who  had 
won  laurels  in  long  maritime  adventure.  If  inferior  in  force,  the 
English  vessels  were  the  best  handled.  Gales,  fire  ships,  shoals, 
collisions,  and  partial  engagements  dispersed  or  destroyed  the  bulky 
but  unmanageable  galleasses,  and  the  Spanish  admiral,  convinced  of 
his  inability  to  cope  with  his  more  agile  foe,  fled  round  Scotland, 
strewing  the  shores  of  Ireland  from  Lough  Foyle  to  Castlehaven  with 
the  wreck  of  eighteen  of  his  larger  ships,  and  when  he  reached   San 


TEANSFEK      OF     ERIN.  495 

Andcro  tliiity  of  his  best  had  foundered  or  gone  to  wreck,  and  ten 
thousand  of  liis  men  liad  perished.  O'Donnel,  tiniid  for  his  son,  ar- 
rested the  fugitives  in  his  havens,  but  a  thousand  found  welcome  anil 
cordial  liospitality  from  O'lvourke.  Their  commander  De  Leva, 
entreated  to  aid  against  the  Eualish,  deferred  action  to  a  more  con- 
venient  season,  and  setting  sail  was  lost  with  his  men  within  sight  of 
the  shore.  Other  officers  visited  Dungannon  and  were  courteously 
received. 

liich  spoils  fell  to  the  wreckers.  Iron  safes  strongly  banded, 
which  held  the  treasure,  are  still  preserved,  one  not  long  since  at 
Dunluce.  Deputy  and  governor  marched  in  November  into  Brefney 
to  collect  the  plunder,  but  it  had  disappeared,  and  when  they  had  de- 
vastated the  country  about,  and  iNIac  Sweenys  above,  they  were  not 
better  off.  Balked  of  his  prize,  the  deputy  seized  upon  O'Gallagher 
and  O'Dogherty  and  carried  them  to  the  castle  of  Dul)lin,  the 
former  to  die  of  the  rigors  of  his  imprisonment,  the  latter  to  recover 
his  liberty,  two  years  later,  by  a  bribe.  Twice  in  successive  years 
these  marauds  were  repeated,  and  in  1590,  betrayed  by  his  own  dis- 
affected chiefs,  the  proud  O'Rourke  sought  safety  in  flight.  He 
passed  into  Scotland,  Avhere  arrested  he  was  delivered  up  to  Elizabeth, 
imprisoned  in  the  tower,  and  in  time  put  to  death. 

Upon  the  death  of  Rossa  ]\IcMahon,  chief  of  Monaghan  in  1589, 
without  sons,  his  brother  Hugh  succeeded  as  his  heir  by  English  and 
brehon  law.  Brian  of  Dartry  and  Ever  of  Farney  contested  his 
right.  Hugh  appealed  to  the  deputy,  offering  him  six  hundred  cows 
to  be  instated  in  his  chieftain ry.  The  deputy  assented  and  accom- 
panied him  home  to  settle  him  in  Monaghan.  He  there  arrested  him 
for  collecting  a  rent  two  years  before  in  Farney,  had  him  tried  by 
a  jury  of  soldiers  and  hung  at  his  castle  gate.  The  territory  he  di- 
vided among  his  followers  ;  Sir  Henry  Bagnal,  in  whose  favor  his 
father  soon  after  resigned  the  marshalship,  having  a  princijjal  share, 
and  Henslowe  the  chiefs  castle,  the  deputy  for  decorum  remaining 


496  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

content  with  payment  in  money  from  the  rest.  In  his  letter  to 
Burleigh  in  March,  1589,  however,  he  denied  having  benefited  him- 
self by  the  fall  of  Mac  Mahon,  and  he  may  have  been  maligned. 

Another  chief,  Maguire  of  Fermanagh,  died  the  same  year,  "  a 
lord  in  his  munificence  towards  churches,  ollavs,  soldiers  and  ser- 
vants, and  a  learned  and  studious  adept  in  latin  and  his  own  tongue." 
Conor  Roe  his  kinsman  claimed  the  succession.  Hugh  son  of  the 
deceased  sent  for  aid,  to  his  relative,  Donnel,  son  of  Tyrconnel,  "  a 
mighty  champion  and  general  in  battle."  Assigning  Skea  castle  on 
Upper  Lough  Erne,  nine  miles  south  east  of  Enniskillen,  for  their 
rendezvous,  O'Donnel  there  join-ed  him,  and  using  the  slipper  Conor 
had  left  as  a  token  of  his  pretensions,  it  served  for  the  installation  of 
Hugh  in  the  chieftainship.  Donnel  though  the  elder  son  of  Tyr- 
connel, somewhat  similarly  placed  in  relation  to  the  chieftainship, 
and  vexed  that  his  younger  brother  Hugh  should  be  preferred  to 
himself  as  successor  to  the  aged  chief,  strove  to  displace  him,  and 
Boylagh,  Bannagh  and  MacSweenys  of  Munster  favored  his  cause. 
Ineenduf  assembled  the  Kinel  Konnell,  O'Doherty,  Mac  Sweenys 
of  Tuath  and  Fanad,  and  at  Derrylahan  in  Banagh  on  the  fourteenth 
of  December  an  engagement  took  place  in  which  fell  Donnel,  several 
of  the  chiefs  and  two  hundred  of  his  men. 

One  of  Tyrone's  Spanish  guests  when  in  Scotland,  on  his  way 
home,  gratefully  acknowledged  the  hospitable  entertainment  he  had 
received  at  Dungannon,  and  the  generosity  of  character  of  his  host 
before  Hugh  na  Gavaloch  or  "  of  the  fetters,"  son  of  Shane  by  the 
countess  of  Argyle.  Gavaloch  craftily  volunteered  to  carry  letters 
for  him  to  the  earl,  as  he  was  about  to  go  over  to  Ireland,  and  the 
offer  accepted,  hastened  to  deliver  what  were  entrusted  to  his  care, 
and  which  were  somewhat  compromising  to  O'Neil,  to  the  council. 
The  earl  learning  what  had  chanced  repaired  in  May  to  London,  and 
though  imprisoned  for  coming  over  without  permission  of  the  deputy, 
pled  his  cause  so  effectively  that  all  but  Burley  adjudged  him  guilt- 


TRANSFER    OF     ERIN.  497 

less.  In  their  power,  pledges  were  demanded  of  him  to  keep  peace 
with  the  other  septs,  continue  loyal,  renounce  the  title  of  O'Neil, 
promise  that  Tyrone  should  be  made  shire  ground,  and  neither  to  fos- 
ter witlx  his  brother  chieftains  nor  league  with  the  Scotch.  He  was  to 
compound  for  cess  and  tax  as  had  been  done  in  Connaught,  make  no 
exactions  from  his  neighbors,  or  inroads  upon  their  country,  unless 
within  five  days  from  any  prey.  He  agreed  to  repress  depredators 
and  deliver  them  up,  and  not  hang  any  man  without  leave  unless  by 
martial  law.  His  troop  of  fifty  men  were  to  be  kept  ready  for  ser- 
vice, and  he  was  to  answer  hostings  promptly.  Spiritual  livings 
were  not  to  be  meddled  with,  no  monks  or  friars  to  be  suflTered  within 
his  borders,  he  was  not  to  correspond  wdth  foreign  traitors,  or  levy 
black  mail,  but  do  what  he  could  to  compel  his  people  to  wear  En- 
glish garments  and  shave  off  their  glibbes.  He  further  stipulated 
to  sell  provisions  to  the  fort  at  Blackwater  at  reasonable  rates.  As 
customary  under  brehon  law,  he  was  to  be  answerable  for  his  brother 
Turlogh  of  the  Fews,  and  Turlogh  Luineach  so  long  as  he  lived  was 
not  to  be  disturbed  in  his  supremacy  over  Maguire  and  O'Kane.  His 
sureties  were  not  to  be  imprisoned  in  the  castle,  but  to  be  committed 
to  the  charge  of  merchants  or  gentlemen  answerable  for  their  safe 
keeping,  and  they  might  be  changed  every  three  months. 

In  July,  Gavaloch  appeared  before  the  council  denouncing  him  for 
plotting  with  Spain  against  the  queen.  Tyrone  denied  the  charges, 
attributing  them  on  the  part  of  his  accuser,  who  had  taken  advantage 
of  his  having  lost  favor  with  the  people  by  his  loyalty,  to  gain  popu- 
larity, to  aspirations  for  the  chieftainship  which  the  queen  wished  to 
abolish.  Hatton  and  Ormond  became  bound  for  his  good  be- 
havior, and,  again  in  Dublin,  he  confirmed  the  articles,  but  deferred 
performance  till  his  neighbors  did  the  same,  since  if  they  continued 
free  they  might  invade  his  territories,  whilst  restrained  himself  by 
these  obligations  from  defending  them.  Gavaloch  before  the  year 
ended  fell  into  the  power  of  his  chief  whom  he  had  thus  sought  to 
63 


498  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

supplant,  and  tried  by  martial  law,  was  condemned.  Not  finding 
any  subject  of  his  own  to  carry  out  the  sentence  the  earl  procured 
an  executioner  from  Meath.  The  queen  expressed  her  displeasure 
at  his  audacity,  but  Tyrone  claimed  that  he  had  reserved  the  prero- 
gative of  punishing  with  death  under  martial  law,  and  that  the  culprit 
was  a  notorious  traitor.  The  following  summer  he  attacked  and 
wounded  Turlogh,  whom  he  claimed  had  commenced  hostilities. 

Mabel  Bagnal,  her  father  the  old  marshal  having  died,  was  spend- 
ing the  summer  of  1591  with  her  sister  lady  Barn  wall,  at  the  ancient 
manor  house  of  Turvey,  seven  miles  from  the  capital,  when  Tyrone 
now  a  widower,  having  recently  lost  Judith  O'Donnel,  met  her,  and 
enamored  of  her  beauty,  won  her  affections.  Where  mutual  incli- 
nation yearns  for  opportunities,  they  come,  and  after  brief  courtship 
their  troth  was  plighted,  the  earl  in  token  of  his  love  presenting  her 
with  a  gold  chain,  and  a  time  for  their  marriage  being  appointed. 
Twenty  days  later,  on  the  third  of  August,  he  came  to  Turvey  and 
engaging  in  conversation  with  his  host  and  the  company  present,  his 
friend  Sir  William  Warren,  whose  abode  of  Drumcondra  was  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  Dublin,  rode  home  with  Mabel  behind 
him.  The  earl,  with  ten  gentlemen  of  his  kinsfolk  and  acquaintance, 
English  and  Irish,  to  witness  the  nuptials,  followed.  Probably  from 
the  consideration  that  she  had  been  brought  vip  a  protestant,  and 
exception  might  be  taken  if  the  rites  were  performed  by  a  priest, 
Tyrone  had  sent  a  messenger  into  the  city  for  Jones,  bishop  of 
Meath,  to  come  to  him  speedily  upon  a  matter  of  moment,  without 
specifying  its  nature. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  bishop  at  Drumcondra,  the  motive  for  his 
summons  was  explained,  and  he  interrogated  the  maiden  apart,  as 
to  her  inclinations  and  wishes.  Discovering  that  she  had  come  of  her 
own  free  will,  lest  her  delicacy  might  be  compromised  and  her  hajipi- 
ness  disturbed,  if  imjiediments  were  thrown  in  the  way  of  their  union, 
he  tied  the  knot.     Her  brother  the  new  marshal  fretted  and  fumed. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  499 

He  wrote  Burleigh  he  could  not  but  curse  himself  and  his  fortune, 
that  his  blood,  which  in  his  father  and  himself  had  so  often  been 
spilled  in  repressing  this  rebellious  race,  should  now  be  mingled  with 
it  in  marriage.  Jones  coming  iii  for  a  share  of  his  i-escntment,  an 
explanation  to  the  queen  exonerated  him  from  reproach.  The  mar- 
shal souixht  consolation  in  withholding  his  sister's  estate,  and  in  the 
bitterness  of  his  tongue  charging  the  earl  with  having  another  wife 
living.*  Tyrone  entreated  the  queen  to  intercede  and  bring  about  a 
more  friendly  feeling,  but  Bagnal  hated  on  till  killed,  in  1598,  at 
his  memorable  defeat  at  Blackwater.  His  sister  died  two  years 
before  him,  a  convert  to  the  faith  of  her  husband,  not  he  to  hers,  as 
had  been  hoped. 

Meanwhile  the  son  of  O'Donnel  was  wasting  his  young  life  in 
durance  at  Dublin.  His  companions,  scions  of  noble  stock,  hostages 
for  parent  or  kinsman,  came  and  went  with  tidings  of  what  was 
taking  place  outside  their  bars,  of  fetters,  cruel  as  their  own,  forging 
for  their  countrymen.  As  the  ignorant  are  more  easily  subjugated, 
education  was  withheld,  an  ungenerous  policy  which  did  not  further  its 
purpose.  Hearts  cankering  under  injustice  became  but  the  more 
envenomed  against  English  rule,  the  more  dangerous  without  the  re- 
straints that  liberal  culture  might  have  fostered.  Three  years  and  as 
many  months  wore  away,  when  aid  came  from  an  unexpected  quar- 
ter. If  tradition  may  be  credited,  the  deputy  himself  connived  at 
his  escape.  Whether  bribed,  as  generally  accepted,  by  the  aged  chief- 
tain, disconsolate  at  the  prolonged  captivity  of  his  favorite  son,  or 
prompted  by  better  motive,  Fitzwilliam  removed  a  guard  whose 
suspicion  had  been  aroused  by  circumstances  denoting  what  was  in- 
tended, and  placed  in  his  stead  one  more  open  to  corruption. 

A  wooden  bridge  spanned  the  castlef  ditch  before  the  windows  of 

«  But  from  the  daughter  of  Sir  Brian  Mac  Felim  O'Neil,  his  first  wife,  he  had  been  di- 
vorced previous  to  his  marriage  with  Judith. 

t  The  castle  formed  an  oblong  quadrangle  encompassed  by  a  deep  moat  enclosing  many 
buildings.  Berrainghara  tower,  built  about  1321,  now  the  record  ofBce,  then  served  as  the 
prison  house  for  hostages  and  prisoners  of  state.    It  connected  with  Cork  tower  by  a  high 


500  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

the  common  room  Art  Kavanagh  and  Hugh  Roe  occupied  by  day. 
At  nightfall,  just  before  they  were  to  be  removed  to  their  cells,  they 
fastened  a  rope  to  the  window,  and  friends  below  to  help,  slid  down  to 
the  bridge  beyond  the  castle  gate,  which  they  fastened  behind  them 
on  the  outside  by  a  billet  of  wood.     Before  their  flight  was  discov- 
ered and  the  door  opened  by  the  neighbors  at  the  call  of  the  warders 
from  the  wall,  they  had  left  the  city.     Crossing  the  red  mountain 
they  entered  a  forest.     Kavanagh  proceeding  on,  Hugh,  weary  and 
lame,  sent  for  succor  to  Felim  O'Toole,  whom  he  had  reason  to 
suppose  friendly,  but  whose  kinsfolk  would  not  suffer  him  to  com- 
promise himself  by  giving  shelter  to  the  fugitive.     Troops  arriving 
in  pursuit,  they  gave  him  up  to  them.     Fettered  and  carefully  guard- 
ed he  remained  several  months  longer  a  prisoner,  when  at  Christmas 
another  attempt  proved    successful.     With  the  sons  of  Shane,  his 
cousins,  descending  by  an  open  flue  connected  with  the  ditch,  he  made 
for  Wicklow.     The  weather  cold  and  snow  falling,  they  wandered 
three  days  in  Glenmalure,  till  overpowered  by  fatigue  and  exposure 
they  laid  down  to  perish.    One  of  the  O'Byrnes  discovered  them  nearly 
lifeless,  and  sending  word  to  his  chief,  Fiach,  the  victor  of  Glenda- 
lough,  took  Hugh  home.     Art  O'Niel,  refusing  to  eat  the  leaves  of 
the  trees,  had  died  from  want  of  nourishment,  and  Heni-y  his  brother 
already  gone  into  Ulster. 

Tyrone  apprised  of  the  condition  of  his  brother-in-law,  whose  feet 
had  been  frozen  but  who  was  slowly  recovering,  despatched  one  of 

curtain  wall.  The  entrance  into  the  castle  by  a  drawbridge  on  the  north  side  lay  between 
two  round  towers.  Eiirhty-one  windows  or  spickes  on  the  outside  walls  served  for  light  or 
defence.  Sydney,  in  1565,  first  occupied  it  as  a  viceregal  abode,  Thomas  Court,  Kilniain- 
iiam  or  the  archbishop's  pahice,  serving  previously  for  the  purpose.  Parliament  and  the 
upper  courts  also  sat  there  under  Elizabeth  and  James.  The  original  city  wall  as  then  ex- 
isting from  Dame  Gate  to  Birmingham  tower  was  little  more  than  a  mile,  extending  thence  to 
Stanihurst's  193  feet.  Pole  Gate  and  Genevilles  lay  next.  From  St.  Nicholas  gate  the  wall  ran 
312  feet  to  Sarsficld,  thence  to  Sedgrave's  340,  thence  by  Fagans  to  the  New  Gate,  thence  to 
Fitzsymons  180,  to  Gormond's  gate  840,  to  Harberd's  castle  308,  to  Usher's  house  near  the 
Liffey  140.  From  thence  to  Pricketts  it  continued  843  feet,  to  Fians  356,  to  another  Fitzsim- 
mons  188,  to  Issolds  172,  to  Buttevants  lOG,  to  Bises  188,  and  thence  to  Dame  Gate  108.  The 
walls  varied  in  thickness  from  4  to  7  feet,  in  height  from  15  to  28,  the  towers  rarely  exceed- 
ing 40  or  50  in  elevation.  The  population  of  Duhlin,  now  a  quarter  of  a  million,  was  in  the 
sixteenth  century  densely  packed.  It  was  greatly  fluctuating,  but  not  one  sixth  as  many  as 
now.    In  the  seventeenth  century  the  castle  was  renovated  cliiefliy  under  Ormoud. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  501 

bis  retainers,  Tiirlogh  O'Hagan,  in  whose  intelligence  and  faithful- 
ness he  could  trust,  to  bring  him  to  Dungannon.  Felini  O'Toolc  of 
Powerscourt,  who  on  his  former  escape  had  surrendered  Hugh  to  the 
troops,  now  made  amends,  and  escorted  him  with  a  force  of  cavalry 
so  far  as  prudence  permitted.  The  passes  of  the  Liffey  were  carefully 
guarded,  but  by  one  of  its  fords  near  Dublin  too  dangerous  to  be 
often  used,  they  crossed  that  river,  and  in  a  boat,  the  Bo3fne,  near 
Drogheda,  and  resuming  their  horses  which  O'llagan  had  led  through 
the  town,  after  a  night  at  Mellifont  and  another  at  Armagh  reached 
the  castle  of  the  earl.  There  O'Donnel  rested  several  days  in  con- 
cealment till  sufficiently  recruited  to  proceed.  Maguire  received  him 
tenderly,  and  furnishing  him  with  "  a  black  polished  boat  "  to  row 
down  Lake  Erne,  he  arrived  at  home  at  Bally  shannon  many  weeks 
after  his  escape,  receiving  an  enthusiastic  welcome  from  the  Kinel 
Konnel . 

He  was  greatly  needed.  His  ftither  with  body  and  mind  enfeebled 
had  suffered  a  few  hundred  Englishmen  from  Connaught  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  monastery  of  Donegal  and  of  one  of  his  castles,  and  to 
waste  and  to  spoil  all  the  country  around.  Hugh  Roe  drove  them 
out,  but,  his  constitution  shattered  by  the  exposures  of  his  escape,  for 
months  he  remained  under  medical  treatment.  When  his  health  was 
reestablished,  he  repaired  with  his  father  to  Kilmacrenan,  where  the 
chiefs  of  Kinel  Koni  el  time  out  of  mind  had  been  inaugurated. 
There  on  the  third  of  May,  1592,  his  father  resigning  in  his  favor, 
the  assembled  chieftains  elected  him  to  rule  over  them,  and  by  the 
simple  but  significant  forms  common  to  such  occasions  he  was  in- 
stalled in  an  office  which,  unlike  that  of  the  deputy,  was  a  service  not 
a  preferment.  In  obedience  to  ancestral  precedent  when  the  ceremo- 
nial was  concluded  he  marched  foith  with  his  gathered  array  to  lay 
waste  Strabane.  Troops  were  sent  to  the  aid  of  Turlogh,  when 
he  again  attacked  him  and  drove  his  array  to  the  castle  of  O'Kane. 
That  chief  claiming  forbeai-ance  on  the  ground  of  fosterage,   he  re- 


502  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

tiiraed  to  besiege  Strabane,  and  burned  the  place  to  its  castle  walls. 
Tyrone  interposed,  and  accompanying  his  brother-in-law  to  Dundalk, 
the  deputy  recognized  him  as  lord  of  Tyrconnel,  and  thereupon  sev- 
eral of  his  chiefs,  who  had  previously  held  aloof,  gave  in  to  him  their 
allegiance. 

Bagnal  not  abating  in  his  hate  for  Tyrone  reported  to  the  council 
his  slightest  indiscretions.  The  deputy  also  viewed  him  with  distrust, 
which,  undeserved,  created  disaffection.  When  Maguire  incensed  at 
their  arbitrary  proceedings  was  about  to  put  to  the  sword  the  sheriff 
Willis,  whom  Hugh  Roe  had  driven  out  of  Donegal  the  year  before, 
and  his  English  posse,  the  earl  interposed  his  authority  to  save  their 
lives,  on  condition  that  they  quitted  Fermanagh.  Accused  of  being 
as  was  natural  more  considerate  of  his  vassal  chief,  than  of  English 
interests,  he  sent  an  envoy  to  the  queen  to  disarm  her  displeasure. 
Sheriffs  were  equally  rapacious  and  overbearing  in  Breffny,  and 
O'Rourkeflevv  to  arms.  Maguire  and  chiefs  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel 
lent  him  their  aid,  and  he  invaded  Connaught  destroying  Ballymote  and 
other  towns.  In  an  encounter  with  Bingham  at  Tulks,  Macgauran 
then  lately  returned  from  Rome  as  archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  the  ab- 
bot Cathal  Maguire  while  engaged  in  ministrations,  bodily  and  spir- 
itual, to  the  wounded,  were  killed,  as  also  Sir  William  Clifford  on  the 
other  side.  Bingham  drew  off  and  Maguire  went  home  with  his  prey. 
The  deputy  upon  the  news  of  this  outbreak  marched  a  force  of  four 
hundred  men  into  Fermanagh  and  attacked  the  chief  at  Enniskillen, 
a  strong  post  between  the  lakes  of  Erne.  Tyrone  joined  the  deputy 
and  was  wounded  in  the  battle,  in  which  the  English  artillery  gained 
the  advantage  after  a  desperate  and  prolonged  engagement. 

Hugh  Roe,  at  the  time  on  his  march  to  aid  Maguire,  sent  word  to 
the  earl  that  if  he  did  not  take  part  with  them,  he  should  regard  him 
as  an  enemy.  Tyrone  begged  him  to  refrain  so  long  as  he  remained 
with  the  English  army,  his  brother  Cormac  and  four  hundred  men 
with  his  sanction  or  of  their  own  motion  joining  the  Kinel  Konnel. 


TRANSFER     OF    ERIN.  503 

Theii*  approach  in  superior  force  discouraged  tlic  deputy  from  fartlier 
proceeding,  and  setting  up  Conor  Oge  jMaguire  in  opposition  to  the 
legitimate  chief  of  Fermanagh,  he  withdrew. 

Turlogh  was  still  an  embarrassment.  AMiilt^t  he  continued  at  the 
head  of  the  Kinel  Owen  supported  by  the  queen,  the  earl  even  after 
his  election  at  Tullahogc  was  trammelled.  Hugh  Koe  a  constant 
menace  at  Lifford  to  Turlogh  at  Strabane  gathered  his  elans  in  the 
summer  of  151)3  with  intention  sufficiently  manilest,  when  his  super- 
anuated  neighbor  consented  to  surrender  the  chieftainship  to  the  earl, 
and  the  two  Hughs  ruled  over  all  Ulster  unless  it  were  Antrim. 

In  the  spring  of  1594  the  deputy  reduced  Enniskillen,  but  Hugh 
Koe  declaring  war  combined  with  Maguire  to  recover  it.  The  gar- 
rison by  August  had  exhausted  their  supplies,  and  George  Bingham 
with  an  army  from  Connaught  reinforced  from  Meath  sought  to 
relieve  them.  He  had  reached  a  ford  four  miles  from  the  place,  when 
Maguire  came  down  upon  him  and  after  a  sanguinary  engagement 
put  his  army  to  rout.  The  supplies  for  the  fortress  came  acceptably 
to  the  victors,  and  from  the  quantity  captiu-ed  the  battle  became  known 
as  the  Ford  of  the  biscuits.  Enniskillen  soon  surrendered,  and  what 
were  left  of  its  warders  were  allowed  to  depart.  The  conquerors  en- 
tered Connaught,  reduced  Balleek,  slaughtering  the  garrison,  and, 
it  is  said,  spared  no  one  who  could  not  speak  Irish  from  fifteen  to 
sixty,  in  retaliation  for  the  cruelties  practised  upon  men,  women  and 
children  massacred  at  Enniskillen.  They  established  Theobald  son 
of  AValter  Burke,  who  commanded  at  Shrule  in  1570,  as  the  Mac 
William. 

The  Desmond  confiscations  ripened  the  long  cherished  project  of 
a  protestant  seminary  in  the  capital.  Archbishop  Curwin  when  it 
was  proposed  to  appropriate  St.  Patrick  for  the  purpose  objected,  on 
the  ground  "that  a  university  in  the  capital  would  prove  unprofitable, 
for  the  Irish  enemy  under  color  of  study  might  send  their  friends 
thither,    who  would  learn   the  secrets   of  the    court   and  advertise 


504  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

them  thereof;  so  that  the  Irish  rebels  should  by  them  know  the  se- 
crets of  the  English  pale."  The  reformation  created  a  demand  for 
learned  protestant  clergymen,  and  Loftus  inclined  to  favor  the  plan 
when  the  property  of  All  Hallows,  which  had  been  given  by  the 
crown  to  the  corporation  of  Dublin,  was  substituted  for  the  site  instead 
of  his  cathedral.  It  was  chartered  in  1591.  Fitzvvilliam  dedicated 
it  the  year  after,  and  the  queen  in  1597  endowed  it  with  lands  of  the 
value  of  four  hundred  pounds,  which  with  later  acquisitions  now 
yield  over  thirty  thousand.  It  was  opened  for  students  on  the  ninth 
of  January,  1593,  and,  though  sharing  in  the  vicissitudes  of  troubled 
times,  it  has  been  highly  prospered,  now  numbering  nearly  fifteen 
hundred  students. 


XXXIX. 

REIGN   OF   ELIZABETH. 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 

The  recall  of  Fitzwilliam  was  no  great  cause  of  lamentation.  His 
tablet  when  he  died  five  years  afterwards  rehearsed  his  praise,  but  he 
was  not  a  model  governor  any  more  than  his  descendant  lord  Byron, 
admirable  as  a  poet,  was  exemplary  as  a  man.  In  July,  1594,  came 
over  to  take  his  place  Sir  William  Russell,  youngest  son  of  the 
earl  of  Bedford,  whose  earlier  career  on  the  continent  had  redounded 
to  his  fame  as  a  soldier  and  statesman,  which  his  administration  did 
not  tarnish.  First  ascertaining  from  the  various  officials  the  actual 
state  of  the  country,  on  the  eleventh  of  August  he  assumed  the 
sword.  He  marched  at  once  into  Fermanagh,  and  his  coming  not 
expected  he  surprised  Enniskillen  and  took  possession  of  the  place 
without  opposition. 

Tyrone,  without  compromising  his  independence  as  an  Irish  chief- 
tain, had  studiously  avoided  giving  occasion  for  censure,  and  still 
suffering  from  his  wound  in  the  service  of  the  queen,  presented  him- 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  505 

self  at  the  court  of  the  new  deputy  without  misgiving.  The  marshal 
virulent  as  ever  against  him,  called  upon  the  council  for  his  arrest  on 
charges  of  high  treason  in  entertaining  the  late  archbishop  Mac- 
gauran,  corresponding  with  O'Donnel,  dise'i[)lining  his  troops,  and 
manufacturing  bullets.  The  carl  defied  Bagnal  to  prove  his  asser- 
tions by  ordeal  of  personal  combat,  himself  without  armor,  but  his 
challenge  was  declined.  His  many  friends  at  the  council  board  pre- 
vented his  proposed  arrest,  but  Ormond  advised  him  to  leave  the 
capital  lest  his  liberty  should  be  restrained. 

"Whether  justly  entitled  to  it  or  not,  Hugh  has  been  esteemed  the 
cleverest  man  that  ever  bore  the  name  of  O'Neil.  Historians  gen- 
erally concur  in  the  conclusion,  that  his  father  was  no  son  of  Con 
but  of  the  blacksmith,  and  consequently  an  O'Kclly  of  Bregia.* 
His  maternal  ancestors,  princes  of  Fermanagh,  were  noted  for 
noble  trait,  and  if  acquired  habits  of  rule  become  aptitudes  trans- 
mitted, this  heirloom  was  his.  His  natural  endowments  quickened 
into  best  development  by  education  he  was  now  in  his  prime,  and 
naturally  regarded  as  entitled  to  the  lead.  The  death,  in  1505,  at 
Strabane  of  Turlogh,  whose  munificence  had  gained  him  popularity, 
vested  in  the  earl  undisputed  sway  over  Tyrone. 

That  incensed  at  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  government  and 
encroachment  upon  the  religious  rights  of  his  countrymen,  he  would 
have  gladly  removed  the  yoke  from  their  necks  even  by  transfer  of 
allegiance  to  Spain,  hardly  admits  of  a  doubt.  Neither  he  nor  any 
Irishman  could  feel  under  moral  or  honorary  obligation  or  other  re- 
straint than  prudence,  to  refrain  from  that  course  which  'would  be&t 
protect  their  property  from  pillage,  their  highest  privilege  of  worship- 
ping God  as  they  pleased  from  interference.  If  under  pressure  of 
force,  submission  or  pledge  had  been  extorted,  English  law  at- 
tached no  validity  to  promises  under  duress.     Besides  where  faith  had 

*  If  so,  his  paternal  line  descended  from  Hugh  Siane,  monarch  from  599  to  G0.5,  nine  of 
whose  race  were  kings  of  the  island,  but  the  name  in  Ulster  hud  long  sunk  into  compara- 
tive obscurity. 

64 


506  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

been  so  often  broken  with  them,  punctilio  would  have  been  out  of 
place.  Officials  and  adventurers  hungry  for  their  spoils,  self-preser- 
vation justified  all  measures  to  circumvent  them. 
.  He  knew  too  well  the  powder  of  England  to  hope  single  handed  to 
regain  Ireland  for  the  Irish,  and  after  the  armada  might  well  despair 
of  effective  foreign  intervention.  To  render  Ulster  and  Connaught 
strong  enough  to  discourage  aggression,  seemed  all  that  remained. 
Fairly  treated,  he  would  have  avoided  strife,  which  if  not  attended 
with  success  must  have  proved  pregnant  with  disaster.  But  goaded 
by  injustice  and  aggrieved  by  unmerited  distrust,  he  drew  the  sw^ord 
and  threw  away  the  sheath.  He  still  entered  into  the  league  now  form- 
ing of  the  northern  powers  with  less  openness  than  the  rest,  so  guarding 
his  assent  to  their  proceedings  that  it  should  not  be  used  as  evidence 
against  him,  in  the  event  of  reverse. 

In  other  days,  wise  rulers  and  able  generals  had  maintained  the 
unequal  struggle,  and  now  the  character  and  ability  of  the  Ulster  chiefs 
preeminently  fitted  them  for  the  crisis.  Both  possessed  extraordinary 
powers  of  physical  endurance,  indefatigable  industry,  mental  quali- 
ties suited  to  grand  undertakings,  military  knowledge  of  the  best  and 
personal  prowess.  They  were  alike  wise  and  prudent.  Tyrconnel 
more  remote  had  less  to  consider,  Tyrone  nearer  the  pale  was  forced 
to  dissemble  and  w^ait.  Tyrconnel  descended  maternally  from 
Macdonnels  and  Campbells,  not  so  much  of  an  Irishman,  had 
his  own  claims  to  favor.  Of  his  twenty-five  years,  four  of  the 
most  precious  had  been  passed  in  a  murky  prison  house,  but  he  had 
already  asserted  his  superiority,  and  displayed  among  strong  men 
of  ripe  experience  qualities  that  forced  its  recognition.  Fortunately 
he  was  both  too  young  and  too  generous  to  enter  into  rivalry  with 
Tyrone,  whose  amiable  disposition  and  nobleness  of  nature  relieved 
subordination  of  whatever  might  have  rendered  it  humiliating  under 
one  more  imperious  and  dictatorial. 

Besides  the  personal  qualities  of  Tyrconnel  to  inspire  respect  and 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  507 

conciliate  affection,  an  ancient  propliecy  of  St.  Columkill,  that  one 
of  his  stock  should  reign  ten  years,  during  which  the  nation  would 
be  set  free  from  bondage,  had  not  been  forgotten.  What  he  had 
ah'eady  achieved  since  his  own  liberation  warranted  its  application  to 
him,  and  his  activity  never  grew  wearied.  In  iNIarch,  151)5,  he  led  his 
troops  through  Lcitrim  into  Connaught.  Bingham  left  Koscommon, 
assembling  at  Boyle  his  garrisons  from  Tulks,  Loughkee,  Ballymotc 
and  Sligo.  Hugh  after  sweeping  off  the  herds  of  O'Conor  Roe  and 
Ollanly,  approached  the  Shannon,  and  when  the  governor  strove  to 
stay  his  further  progress  he  repulsed  him  and  escaped  with  his  prey. 

A  few  weeks  after,  with  Maguire  he  entered  Aunaly.  The  O'Fcr- 
rals  displaced  by  adventurers  whom  it  was  their  aim  to  drive  out, 
they  burned  the  castle  of  Longford,  Christopher  Brown  its  usurper 
with  his  wife  escaping  by  a  rope  from  the  flames  that  consumed 
fifteen  of  his  hostages,  whom  he  abandoned  to  their  fate.  Farney 
in  Cavan,  the  queen  had  given  to  Essex.  Talbot  its  seneschal  awoke 
half  suffocated,  fleeing  with  his  family  horror  stricken  into  the  forest 
by  the  lurid  light  of  his  burning  abode.  They  laid  waste  the  land, 
one  cloud  of  smoke  darkening  the  heavens  as  they  proceeded  from 
the  conflagration  of  houses  and  towns  in  possession  of  thehated  race. 
Whilst  thus  engaged,  two  of  the  Geraldincs  of  Kildare  were  stirring 
up  strife  further  south. 

Peter  Fitzgerald,  a  protestant  official  of  Leinster,  who  spared  in 
his  cruelty  neither  age  nor  sex,  thirsted  for  the  blood  of  his  kinsman, 
Walter  Riagh,  who  pursued  by  him  to  his  castle  of  Gloran,  barely 
effected  his  escape.  In  retaliation,  the  abode  of  Peter  was  burnt. 
Not  to  be  outdone  when  least  expected,  a  mukitudinous  host  environ- 
ed Gloran,  Gerald  brother  of  its  lord  falling  in  its  defence.  Unpre- 
pared to  stand  a  siege,  Walter  broke  through  the  besieging  lines. 
He  hovered  around,  soldiers  scattered  in  neighboring  villages  were 
slain,  when  one  evening  he  himself  fell  wounded,  his  thigh  broken 
bv  a  ball.      George  :\Ioore,  one  of  his  company,  fighting  as  he  went. 


508  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

conveyed  him  to  a  place  of  concealment.  Left  in  charge  of  an  En- 
glish prisoner,  or,  for  the  accounts  differ,  of  a  physician  of  his  sept,  in 
whom  he  reposed  implicit  confidence,  but  by  whom  he  was  betrayed, 
he  was  put  to  death. 

Fiagh  O'Byrne,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Glendalough,  and  known 
as  "the  firebrand  of  the  mountain,"  moved  by  indignation  at  the 
cruelties  of  Peter,  had  taken  part  with  Walter  his  son-in-law,  and 
before  the  latter  was  wounded,  the  deputy,  on  the  sixteenth  of  Jan- 
uary, had  marched  to  Ballinacor,  his  abode  in  Glenmalure.  The 
chieftain,  put  upon  his  guard  by  a  drumbeat,  perhaps  for  parley  at  his 
gate,  escaped  through  a  postern,  or  some  secret  passage,  in  which 
castles  of  that  period  abounded.  The  deputy  withdrew  disappointed, 
but  before  the  month  ended  Walter  had  burnt  Crvuulin,  tw^o  miles 
from  the  capital,  carrying  off  the  church  roof  for  bullets.  Russell 
marched  back  into  Wicklow,  hung  two  brothers  of  Walter,  and  in 
April  as  above  related,  Walter  himself.  Fiagh  submitted  and  was 
l^ardoned  in  November,  but  his  castle  was  occupied  by  an  English 
garrison.  He  surprised  and  demolished  it  the  following  August,  and 
after  many  brave  exploits  in  encounters  with  his  enemies,  fell  mor- 
tally wounded  in  one  of  them,  in  May,  1597. 

After  the  armada,  persecution  filled  the  prisons  with  catholic  priests, 
and  the  war  with  O'Rourke  and  Maguire  grew  out  of  their  harboring 
the  Sjianiards.  Many  important  engagements  had  taken  place  since, 
but  what  is  known  as  the  fifteen  years  catholic  war,  and  so  termed 
by  its  cotemporary  historian,  Philip  O'Sullivan,*  though  lasting 
from  1588  to  1602,  attained  a  general  character,  even  at  the  north, 

*  Grandson  of  Dermod  chief  of  Bcare  and  Baiitry  killed  in  1519,  and  son  of  Dcrmod, 
born  about  1530,  who  with  his  brother-in-law,  Owen,  Eilmund  and  Maurice  Mac  Sweeny, 
joined  James  Fitzmaurice  when  he  landed  in  15b9,  and  who  took  part  in  all  these  wars 
down  to  their  close  in  1603.  Dermod  died  at  Corunna  in  Spain,  at  the  advanced  ageof  uverone 
hundred  years.  By  Joanna,  daughter  of  Donald  -Mac  Sweeny  Tuath  and  Margaret  of  the 
liouseof  Mac  Cavthy  More,  he  had  seventeen  children,  four  only  of  Avhom  survived  to  ac- 
company him  into  Spain.  Daniel  was  killed  in  battle  with  the  Turks,  Helena  drowned  on 
the  way  to  join  her  husband  in  Ireland;  Leonora  became  a  nun.  From  an  elegiac  poem  of 
nearly  two  hundred  lines,  in  latin,  by  the  historian,  these  particulars  are  gleaned.  Philip's 
history  was  first  published  in  1621,  and  he  was  living  at  Madrid  in  1634.  His  work  is  gen- 
erally esteemed  as  the  best  source  of  information  in  relation  to  this  period  on  the  Catholic 
side. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  509 

only  at  this  period,  Avhen  Tyrone  engaged  in  it.  jMunster  still  re- 
mained quiet,  Leiustcr  was  but  little  disturbed,  and  Meath  occupied 
by  English  plantations  and  garrisons,  its  Irish  inhabitants  were  bound 
hand  and  foot,  but  the  storm  was  gathering. 

IIow  it  chanced  that  all  catholics  did  not  envbrace  the  catholic 
cause,  that  so  many  of  rank  and  position  fought  against  it,  is  ac- 
counted for  by  its  historian  as  retribution  visited  on  the  land  for  its 
transgressions.  Calamity  that  had  overwhelmed  participants  in 
former  risings  dissuaded  many,  others  reflected  that  the  ([ueen  was 
old  and  mortal  and  her  successor  might  be  catholic.  If  not,  by  their 
fidelity  to  the  crown  they  would  have  at  least  earned  a  claim  to  have 
their  religious  liberties  respected.  Anglo-Irish  feared  that  if  the  chiefs 
prevailed  they  should  be  driven  out.  Their  priests  even  encouraged 
them  to  side  against  their  faith.  It  was  not  protestant  arms  or  valor 
that  conquered,  but  craft.  In  war,  persecution  was  stayed  ;  peace 
raised  the  scaffold,  lighted  the  torch  and  reduced  to  impoverishment. 
In  war  if  chiefs  deserted  the  queen,  they  were  welcomed  back,  their 
derelictions  forgiven  and  favors  bestowed.  But  if  in  peace  they 
betrayed  the  slightest  disaffection,  if  they  winced  under  injury  or  in- 
sult, forms  of  faith  were  preserved,  but  new  crimes  were  invented 
and  on  the  most  shallow  pretexts  they  were  put  to  death.  Penalties 
equally  severe  were  visited  upon  catholics  who  had  continued  loyal, 
and  on  Irish  protestants.  Conformity  to  the  reformed  religion  in  the 
latter  when  they  could  no  longer  be  used  against  the  catholics,  was 
not  regarded  as  genuine,  but  merely  a  cover  from  fear  or  prudential 
considerations.  Spanish  tyranny  was  held  up  as  a  warning  against 
accepting  her  sway.  But  Ireland  was  soon  to  experience  from  En- 
glish domination  refinements  of  cruelty  not  dreamed  of  by  Torque- 

mado. 

Another  device  of  the  government  was  to  destroy  village  and 
farm,  field,  flock  and  herd  of  the  catholics  whom  they  could 
not   subdue,  not  sparing  their  own  adherents,  lest   means  should  be 


510  TRANSFER     OF     EKIN. 

left  tliem  for  continued  resistance.  Base  money  was  substituted  for 
silver  and  gold  to  the  grievous  wrong  of  merchants,  and  all  entitled 
to  rent  or  tribute,  from  the  persuasion  that  wars  would  not  cease 
while  food  or  money  to  buy  it  remained  in  the  land,  and  that  the 
true  policy  was  to  feed  their  own  armies  from  England,  and  starve 
the  Irish.  But  still  as  ever  before  the  most  effective  weapon  for 
subjugation  was  to  stir  up  strife  and  jealousies,  create  contention  for 
the  chieftainships,  and  lending  seasonable  help,  when  opportunity 
offered  appropriate  to  themselves  the  spoils.  Nial  in  Tyrconnel, 
sons  of  Shane  in  Tyrone,  Owen  in  Beare,  Theodore  O'Rourke,  the 
English  iNIaguire,  Florence,  Dermot  and  Donal  in  Clancarre  and 
"  six  hundred  other  examples,"  went  to  show  that  a  kingdom  divided 
against  itself  must  fall.  The  motives  which  led  to  embracino;  one 
side  or  the  other  in  tlie  struggle  were  various  and  operated  without 
regard  to  geographical  position,  nationality  or  faith.  Not  even  char- 
acter or  personal  predilections  governed,  but  son  divided  against  sire, 
brother  against  brother,  according  to  circumstances  peculiar  to  each 
case.* 

That  under  such  unfavorable  conditions  the  catholic  forces  should 
have  so  long  proved  victorious,  soldiers  unarmed  defeat  veterans  amply 
provided  with  the  best  weapons,  means  so  scanty  for  nearly  fifteen 
years  cope  with  the  power  and  resources  of  the  whole  realm,  was 
indeed  a  marvel.  If  the  Anglo  Irish,  catholic  and  protestant,  had 
not  well  understood  that  upon  success  depended  the  preservation  of 

*  For  the  queen.  Ormond,  Buttevant,  Dmiboyne,  Unper  Ossory.  Castleconnel,  Theobald 
Burke,  Atlieury,  Kildares,  Howth,  Gonn  mstown,  Delvin,  Slane,  Thoinond,  Iiichiquin, 
Mac  Carthy  Rciigh  and  Mnskerry,  O'Connor  Don,  Mehighlin  and  the  three  Phinkets.  For 
the  catholics,  Tyrone,  Mac  Gennis,  M  ic  Mahon,  Maunire,  O'Kane,  O'Hanlon,  Macdonnels, 
of  the  Glynns,  "O'DonncI,  the  three  Mac  Sweenys,  O'Dogherty,  O'Boyle,  O'Snllivans  Beane 
and  Mor,  O'Connor  Kerry,  Mac  Carthies  of  Duhallo,  0'L)riseol,  O'Ma'hon,  O'Donovan,  both 
O'Donohues,  O'Ronrke,  Mac  Dermot,  O'Kelley,  Kavanaghs,  O'Conors  Otfaly,  O'Moores, 
O'Byrnes,  Majieoghan,  Roche,  Montgarret,  Lixnaw,  Butler  of  Cahir;  Condon,  Purcel, 
kniglits  of  Kerry,  Valley  and  Fitzgibhon,  Florence  and  Donal  McCarthy,  O'Conor  Sligo, 
James  sugan  earl  of  Desmond,  Raymond  Bnrke,  lord  Leitrim,  all  lords  of  territories.  Besides 
these,  Nicd  O'Donnel,  Cornelius  O'Driscol,  Dermod  O'SuUivan  father  of  the  historian,  Fiagh 
O'Byrne,  Cormic  O'Niei,  Cornelius  O'Reilly,  Dermot  McCarthy  Reagh,  William  Burke, 
Bernard  O'Kelly,  Richard  Tirrell,  Bernard  O'Moore,  Walter  Geraldine,  Dermot  O'Conor. 
Peter  Lessius,  Edmund  O'Moore,  James  Butler,  Magnus  Manrice  and  Daniel  Magnus 
Mac  Sweeney,  Uliek  Burke,  Richard  Mageo-han,  Maurice  O'SuUivan,  Tliaddeus  O'Mahon. 
Kot  all  at  the  same  time  ;  if  they  had,  it  would  have  been  less  easy  to  conquer  them. 


TKANSFEROFEKIN.  511 

their  estates,  or  it  had  not  been  so  ordered  above,  the  struggle  could 
hardly  have  been  so  prolonged  or  assumed  proportions  as  formidable. 
It  -would  still  have  been  more  politic  to  have  followed  the  counsel  of 
Sir  AVilliam  llussell,  and  dlstril)uted  the  church  spoliations  vested  in 
the  crown,  among  the  nobility  of  both  persuasions,  in  Ireland  as  in 
England,  and  they  would  then  have  held  their  religion  as  their  land 
in  capite  and  stuck  to  the  queen  as  the  great  support  of  both.  AVhich 
predominated,  land  or  religion,  as  governing  considerations  in  this 
strife,  can  only  be  conjectured.  In  numerous  instances,  no  doubt, 
the  latter  influenced  the  more  elevated  characters,  to  keep  what  they 
possessed  of  the  former  or  obtain  what  they  coveted  prevailing  with 
the  less  generous. 

When  Desmond  became  endangered  his  friends  and  neighbors  en- 
tered into  covenants  to  shield  him  from  injustice.  Twenty  years 
later,  the  northern  chiefs  united  for  mutual  protection  against  reli- 
gious persecution,  intrusion  of  sheriffs,  and  like  aggressions.  Tyrone, 
though  cautious  to  avoid  committal,  fiivored  the  league,  if  he  did  not 
originate  it.  How  far  this  combination  was  known  to  the  government 
is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  that  the  north  was  disaffected,  united  and 
strong  was  sufficientl}^  apparent.  What  force  the  deputy  had  at  his 
disposal  consisted  largely  of  Irish  catholics  upon  whom  no  depen- 
dence could  be  placed.  Urging  reinforcements.  Sir  John  Norris  with 
laurels  fresh  from  France  and  the  Low  Countries,  a  grandson  of  that 
Henry  who  died  rather  than  accuse  Anna  Boleyn,  brought  over  two 
thousand  veterans  who  had  served  under  him  in  Brittany  and  also 
one  thousand  new  levies.  A  chain  of  fortresses  across  the  island 
from  Dundalk  to  Ballyshannon  were  to  be  constructed  or  strength- 
ened to  overawe  Ulster  and  serve  for  base  of  operations.  The 
hosting  of  the  pale  added  to  the  numerical  if  not  actual  force,  which 
under  the  deputy  and  Xorris,  both  able  generals,  now  menaced  the 
north. 

Tyrone  demanded  explanations,  but  his  letters  to  court  and  the 


512  TRANSFER     OF     ERIX. 

deputy  were  intercepted  or  delayed  by  the  marshal,  and  not  to  be 
taken  unawares,  he  gathered  his  army  and  reduced  Portmore,  three 
miles  from  Armagh  and  seven  from  Dungannon,  which  though  his 
principal  abode,  he  gave  to  the  flames.  His  sons-in-law,  Bryan  Mac 
Mahon  and  Arthur  Magennis,  lord  of  Iveagh,  whose  territories  lay 
most  exposed  to  the  enemy,  with  O'Kane,  came  to  his  aid  with  their 
clans,  and  sending  for  O'Donnel  and  Maguire  who  were  awaiting 
his  call,  he  flung  his  banner,  the  red  right  hand  on  its  snowy  folds, 
to  the  breeze,  committed  himself  to  the  chances  of  war,  and  marched 
to  lay  siege  to  Monaghan.  O'Byrnes  and  Kavanaghs  with  the  Fitz- 
ireralds  were  not  less  troublesome  from  their  recent  reverses  in 
Leinster,  and  thus  indirectly  lent  help  to  the  northern  chieftains. 

Norris  appointed  general  of  the  army  in  Ulster  with  power  to  par- 
don, a  clause  "in  the  absence  of  the  deputy,"  added  out  of  considera- 
tion for  Russell,  created  confusion,  and  the  divided  responsibility  tend- 
ed to  produce  estrangement  and  defeat  the  objects  of  the  campaign. 
Whilst  the  marshal  marched  to  relieve  Monaghan  pressed  by  Tyrone, 
general  and  deputy  with  their  whole  available  forces  left  the  pale 
in  June  for  Dundalk.  Proclaiming  the  Ulster  chiefs  traitors  as  they 
went,  they  proceeded  on  to  Armagh  fighting  their  way  through  the 
Mo  wry  pass,  where  later  the  general  constructed  a  fortress  named  from 
himself,  Mountnorris.  Their  progress  beyond  Armagh  was  arrested 
by  the  appearance  of  Tyrone,  who  followed  them  back  to  that  place. 
For  fifteen  days  the  two  armies  confronted  without  coming  to  blows. 
The  intercepted  letters,  already  adverted  to,  now  received,  changed 
to  a  certain  extent  the  complexion  of  aflfairs,  and  the  deputy  not 
having  force  to  contend  or  food  for  such  as  he  had,  labored  to  bring 
about,  what  one  side  termed  peace,  the  other  submission. 

The  invitation  of  Wallop  and  Gardiner,  commissioners  to  negotiate, 
to  the  chiefs  to  meet  them  at  Dundalk  not  being  accepted,  the  con- 
ference took  place  midway  between  the  armies.  Tyrone  insisted 
upon  full  amnesty,  free  exercise  of  religion,  payment  by  the  marshal 


TRANSFEK     OF     ERIN.  513 

of- one  thousand  pounds  for  Mabel's  portion,  restoration  of  his  troop 
in  the  queen's  pay,  restitution  of  preys  taken,  and  that  no  garrison 
or  sheriif  should  come  within  his  borders.  O'Donnel  claimed  that 
Sligo  shoidd  be  restored  and  complained  of  his  imprisonment ;  j\Iac 
Phelim  O'Xeil,  that  Essex  had  despoiled  him  of  a  barony  ;  INIaguire,  of 
the  jjarrison  and  sheriff  wlio  had  slain  one  of  liis  kinsmen  in  Ferma- 
nagh  ;  Mac  Mahon,  of  the  execution  of  Hu  h  Koe.  The  terms  pro- 
posed by  the  chiefs  referred  to  the  queen,  and  those  demanded  of 
them  by  the  commissioners  not  accepted,  negotiations  were  broken  off. 
His  supplies  exhausted,  the  deputy  left  garrisons  at  Armagh  and 
Monaghan,  surrendered  at  Dundalk  command  of  the  army  to  Norris, 
and  by  the  eighteenth  of  July  was  again  in  Dublin.*  Early  in  Sep- 
tember the  chiefs  were  judicially  condemned  in  form  for  high  treason, 
and  with  them  Cormac  brother  of  Tyrone,  Con  his  base  son,  Henry 
Oge  and  Turlogh  his  brother,  other  O'Xeils. 

Xorris,  in  August,  marching  to  relieve  Monaghan,  at  Clontibret  five 
miles  from  that  town,  encountered  Tyrone  with  eight  thousand  men 
posted  to  dispute  his  passage  over  a  stream,  flowing  between  hills 
through  a  valley  open  but  wet.  Cavalry  skirmishes  and  volleys  of  mus- 
ketry were  followed  up  by  charges  by  Norris  in  force,  twice  repulsed 
by  the  catholics,  for  though  his  squadrons  were  the  better  armed,  theirs 
excelled  in  dexterity.  The  Irish  were  also  the  best  marksmen,  which 
proved  however  of  no  advantage  to  either  side,  since  in  the  queen's 
army  they  outnumbered  the  English.  Whilst  Xorris  w^hose  horse  had 
been  shot,  vexed  at  his  discomfiture,  was  recalling  his  broken  forces, 
the  last  himself  to  leave  the  field,  James  Segrave  from  ]\Ieath,  of 
strength  and  stature  above  ordinary  standards,  requested  permission 
of  the  marshal  to  charge  upon  Tyrone,  who  stood  at  the  edge  of  the 

*  Among  the  V)attles  mentioned  l)y  O'Sullivan  as  taking  place  at  this  period  is  that  at  the 
church  of  Kiloter,  two  miles  from  Armagh,  in  wiiich  Tyrone  defeated  the  royalists  and 
chased  them  back  to  the  gates  of  that  city.  From  his  account,  it  would  seem  to  have 
occurred  when  Russell  and  Norris  strove  to  penetrate  into  the  country  hcyond  Armagh,  and 
the  date  given  by  the  editors  of  the  Catholic  History  (Ed.  1850)  is  June  '29,  lo9i.  Mitchell 
in  his  life  of  Tyrone  assigns  this  Ijattle  to  the  ensuing  year,  just  before  Stafford  surrendered 
Armagh. 

65 


514  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

ford  watchino:  the  fi^lit  and  o'lvino;  his  orders.  Ba2:nal  consented, 
but  Tyrone's  body  guard  shot  down  many  of  the  aj)proaching  squad- 
ron as  they  crossed  the  stream. 

Segrave  singled  out  the  chieftain,  and  their  spears  shivering  at  the 
shock  on  each  other's  corslets,  seized  him  by  the  neck  striving  to 
draw  him  from  his  horse.  Grasped  in  deadly  embrace,  they  fell  to- 
gether to  the  ground,  struggling  for  mastery.  As  he  lay  prostrate, 
O'Neil  drew  his  poniard  and  pierced  the  groin  of  his  adversary 
with  fatal  effect.  The  peril  of  their  leaders  had  for  a  moment  stayed 
the  combat,  but  the  troops  of  Tyrone,  assured  of  his  safety,  with  a 
wald  shout  swept  down  upon  their  foe.  The  struggle  was  desperate 
but  brief.  The  ground  heaped  up  with  seven  hundred  fallen  com- 
batants, eighteen  knights  in  glittering  steel  about  the  lifeless  form  of 
Segrave.  The  general  and  his  brother  wounded,  their  standards 
taken  and  their  army  utterly  routed,  fled  from  the  field.  The  next 
day  a  body  of  their  men  overtaken,  attempted  some  resistance,  when 
O'Hanlon,  standard  bearer  of  the  queen  alternately  with  O'Molloy, 
was  slain.  Con,  son  of  Tyrone,  was  sent  to  take  possession  of  Mon- 
aghan,  Hinch  with  three  companies  that  composed  its  garrison 
being  suffered  to  go  away  unharmed. 

During  the  absence  of  O'Donnel,  George  Oge  Bingham,  kinsman 
of  the  governor,  with  Ulick  Burke,  sailed  round  from  Sligoto  Lough 
Swilley,  and  rifled  the  abbeys  of  Kathmullan  and  Tory  island  of  their 
relics  and  plate.  Hugh  Roe  at  this  intelligence  hastened  home,  but  re- 
called, took  part  in  the  movements  related.  Immediate  danger  at 
an  end  with  the  rout  at  Clontibret,  and  tidings  brought  him  that  in 
consequence  of  some  wrong  or  indignity  Bingham  had  been  slain 
by  Ulick,  who  desired  to  surrender  to  him  the  castle  of  Sligo,  he 
took  leave  of  the  earl,  and  speeded  to  regain  possession  of  what  he 
so  eagerly  coveted.  Ulick  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  his  kins- 
men, the  Clandonnel,  Sil  Conor,  ClanMulroony,  or  Macdonoghs  and 
Macdermots,  flocking  to  welcome  one  they  were  quite  willing  to  ac- 


TRANSFER     OF      ERIN.  515 

ccpt  as  their  lord  paramount,  were  reinstated  by  him  in  tlieir  respective 
tcri-itories,  of  which  the  governor  had  deprived  them. 

Hearing  that  McLcod  of  Ara  had  landed  in  Donegal  with  six 
hundred  men  from  the  isles,  Tyrconnel  engaged  them  in  his  service, 
and  returning  through  Leyny  and  Costcllo,  reduced  Castlemore  and 
Turlogh  Mochair  in  Dunmore,  eight  miles  north  of  Tuam.  Bing- 
ham with  fifteen  companies  followed  him  back,  but  Hugh  covering  his 
rear  with  his  cavalry  moved  on  with  his  spoils  to  Glendallan  inLcitrim. 
The  governor  laid  siege  to  Sligo,  sending  his  nephew  Martin  in 
pursuit  of  O'Donnel,  who  hoping  to  capture  him  placed  four 
hundred  of  his  men  in  ambush  and  directed  Fclim  Mac  Devit  with  a 
squadron  to  advance  and  then  retreat  in  order  to  draw  him  into  the 
trap.  ]Martin  swiftly  mounted  had  nearly  overtaken  and  was  about 
to  kill  Felim,  who,  his  horse  being  lame  rode  in  the  rear,  when  the 
pursued  turning  took  deliberate  and  deadly  aim  at  the  arm  pit  of  his 
enemy,  which  was  exposed  as  he  lifted  his  weapon.  O'Donnel  was 
vexed  that  his  plan  should  miscarry,  but  there  was  no  one  to  blame. 

Bingham  pushed  the  siege  of  Sligo.  Teai-ingdown  the  screen  and 
wood-Avork  of  the  church,  he  constructed  a  testudo  or  pent-house  on 
wheels,  covered  with  skins,  and  rolled  it  filled  with  men  to  undermine 
the  foundations  of  the  castle.  But  the  garrison  dropped  large  stones 
torn  from  an  interior  wall  on  the  heads  of  the  sappers  below,  a  heavy 
beam  guided  by  a  rope  did  much  execution,  and  many  were  shot 
from  the  loopholes.  Despairing  of  success,  the  governor  went  home 
to  Roscommon,  and  O'Donnel  demolished  the  castle  lest  it  should  be 
used  against  him. 

For  young  men  accustomed  to  an  active  life  of  adventure  and  en- 
joyment in  the  open  air,  confinement  within  stone  walls  became  irk- 
some, and  one  August  evening  when  their  guards  were  ofFduty  and  the 
people  of  the  town  generally  engaged  at  their  principal  repast,  the  hos- 
tages at  Galway  attempted  an  escape.  They  made  their  way  through 
the  streets,  but  found  the  bridge  when  they  reached  it  already  occupied. 


516  TKANSFEK     OF     ERIN. 

their  fliglit  having  been  discovered.  Some  of  them  plunged  into 
the  river,  several  were  shot  or  drowned,  and  the  rest  driven  back. 
Bingham  was  not  of  a  nature  to  mitigate  tlie  penalty,  and  ordered 
the  survivors  to  be  executed.  Among  them  Avere  sons  of  Richard- na- 
Irain,  O'Flaherty  of  the  battle  axes,  O'Conor  Roe,  and  Mac  David. 
It  would  be  hard  to  parallel  in  the  whole  annals  of  Irish  cruelties 
any  atrocity  more  utterly  indefensible  than  this. 

Balleek  in  Mayo  besieged  by  Theobald  Burke,  John  Bingham, 
brother  of  the  governor,  with  captains  Foal,  Mensi  and  Tuite,  sent 
to  relieve  it  came  late,  for  the  place  had  already  surrendered  and 
they  were  slain.  Several  of  Theobald's  kinsmen,  older  and  of  greater 
dignity  than  himself,  disputing  the  chieftainship,  O'Donnel  confirmed 
it  to  him,  who  being  in  the  bloom  of  youth  seemed  best  able  to  endure 
the  toils  of  war.  In  presence  of  the  assembled  hosts  of  Mayo,  he 
was  inaugurated  as  the  Mac  William  lochtar,  his  competitors  giving 
hostages  and  pledges  of  obedience.  The  ceremony  over  and  Christ- 
mas at  hand,  the  new  chieftain  entertained  Hugh  Roe,  whose  supre- 
macy nearly  all  Connaught  except  Clanrickard  was  now  inclined  to 
recognize. 

Hugh  reducing  thirteen  castles  of  unfriendly  chiefs,  appointed  Fer- 
dorcha  O'Kelly,  lord  of  Hy-Many ;  Maurice  Macdonogh,  lord  of 
Tirrerill ;  Rory  of  Corran ;  Conor  Macdermot  of  Moylurg  ;  O'Dowde 
and  O'Hara  over  their  respective  septs.  Russell  at  this  time  in  Gal- 
Avay  summoned  the  castle  of  Cloghan,  held  by  O'Maddens,  who 
refused  to  deliver  it  up,  saying  that  if  his  army  consisted  of  lord 
deputies,  they  would  defend  it.  It  proved  an  idle  boast,  for  the 
royal  artillery  soon  compelled  them  to  surrender,  forty-six  of  their 
men  being  slain  in  the  defence  and  the  rest  thrown  headlong  from  the 
walls.  The  sept  enraged,  destroyed  all  their  castles  except  Long- 
ford, the  abode  of  Donnel  their  chief,  captured  Kenovan,  bishop  of 
Clonfert,  raided  Delvin  and  Fircal  beyond  the  Shannon,  and  only 
after  they  had  testified  their  resentment  by  more  extensive  devastations 
would  they  be  still. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  517 

Pliilip  of  Spain,  clecrepid  with  age  and  indulgence,  survived,  for 
ten  years,  his  famous  fleet.  His  wrath,  less  easily  repressed,  found 
vent  rather  in  menace  than  performance.  AVhat  projects  he  seri- 
ously entertained  were  disconcerted  hy  rumors  industriously  spread 
by  English  envoys  al)road,  that  Ireland  subdued  had  submitted. 
When  undeceived,  his  promises  of  assistance  and  exhortations  to 
persist  fostered  expectations  to  which  the  arrival  of  three  small  pin- 
naces laden  with  powder  and  bringing  two  hundred  men,  gave  new 
life.  Tyrone  rejected  the  pardon  sent  him  in  April,  1591),  by  Ed- 
ward ^loore,  and  his  emissaries  to  ^Nlunster  and  letters  to  O'liyrne 
instigated  war  or  at  least  preparation.  O'Byrne,  as  mentioned,  re- 
covered Ballinacor,  O'Moores,  O'Connors,  O'Tooles  and  Cavanaghs 
gathered  in  force,  as  also  the  dispossessed  Butlers.  They  demanded 
restoration  of  their  confiscated  estates,  wasting  and  destroying,  the 
terrified  usurpers  imploring  protection.  liussell  had  learned  the 
Avay  to  Glenmalure  ;  Ormond  endeavored  to  suppress  his  revolted 
kinsfolk  ;   St.  Leger  found  employment  in  Leix  and  Ophaly. 

Impatient  at  the  waste  of  the  war  and  its  ill  success,  the  queen 
inclined  to  concession,  which  course  Norris  approved  but  not  the 
deputy.  Pride  blinding  lier  to  the  condition  of  affairs,  Tyrone  in  April , 
1,VJ(),  met  her  commissioners,*  only  to  hear  his  terms  offered  at 
Armagh  rejected,  and  others  proposed  altogether  inadmissible. 
What  Morrison  relates  of  the  advantage  taken  of  his  presence  ex- 
plains his  unwillingness  afterwards  to  treat.  He  was  called  upon  to 
sign  preliminaries  to  negotiation  sufficiently  compromising.  Copus 
and  other  envoys  had  arrived  with  proffers  from  Spain,  and  it  is  al- 
leged Tyrone  communicated  them  to  the  deputy,  a  statement  not 
very  probable  if  anything  remained  to  be  learned.  Pardon  was 
promised  upon  render  of  pledges,  and  the  chief  withdrew  to  renew 
hostilities. 

Tyrone  had  friends  among  the  queen's  Avarders.      In  her  garrison 

*  Nonis  and  Feuton. 


518  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

spearheads  mysteriously  disappeared,  powder  and  ball  from  her  guns, 
and  one  of  her  captains,  terror  struck  by  apparitions,  registered  a 
vow  never  again  to  desecrate  cathohc  shrines,  and  resigned  his  com- 
mission and  pay  lest  he  might  be  tempted  to  break  it.  Nine  Irish- 
men, part  of  the  garrison  of  Carlingford,  concerted  with  Tyrone  to 
seize  that  place,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  come  at  dawn  to 
take  possession.  A  favorable  moment  prematurely  offering,  they  rose 
upon  their  companions,  who  instead  of  being  overpowered,  fled  or 
were  driven  from  the  castle.  Having  reason  to  expect  their  return 
with  a  force  not  to  be  resisted,  the  catholics  left  the  place,  but  not 
meeting  the  earl  in  the  darkness  to  apprise  him  of  what  had  occurred, 
he  stationed  himself  as  proposed  near  the  gates,  in  vain  waiting  for 
their  signal.  Meanwhile  as  apprehended,  the  warders  expelled  drew 
near  with  what  troops  they  could  collect,  and  themselves  unperceived, 
discovered  the  earl  in  the  gloaming.  Conjecturing  for  what  he  was 
waiting,  they  contrived  to  reenter  the  deserted  walls,  and  he  had  to 
take  his  departure  disappointed. 

Forts  judiciously  constructed,  duly  manned  and  provisioned, 
could  not  be  reduced,  burned,  or  without  artillery  to  batter  their 
walls,  betaken  by  storm.  Armagh  had  used  up  its  stores,  vermin  in- 
fested the  place,  famine  and  pestilence  made  havoc  of  its  warders. 
O'Neil  captured  at  night  among  the  mountains  three  battalions  of 
foot,  and  a  squadron  of  horse,  bringing  relief.  Sending  his  son 
Con  with  one  portion  of  his  force  to  a  monastery  outside  the  walls 
to  abide  his  orders,  another  assuming  the  garments  and  armor  of 
his  prisoners  approached  in  array  the  gates  with  the  supplies.  When 
within  view  of  the  sentinels  on  the  walls,  attacked  by  the  rest  with  all 
the  circumstance  of  an  actual  figlit,  Stafford  in  command  sent  out 
half  his  garrison  to  extricate  his  supposed  countrymen.  Assailed  to 
their  surprise  by  both  contending  parties,  Con  sallied  forth  from  the 
monastery  and  cut  off  their  retreat.  Not  long  after,  Stafford,  his 
magazines  exhausted,  surrendered  the  city,  on  terms  which  were 
respected,  and  O'Neil  dismantled  its  fortifications. 


TKANSFER     OF     EKIN.  519 

The  commissioners  had  been  empowei'etl  to  make  more  ample 
concessions,  and  Tyrone  showed  a  disposition  to  hearken  at  least  witli 
courtesy  to  their  overtures,  too  wary,  however,  to  [)lace  himself  again 
in  tlieir  power.  He  rather  evaded  than  refused  their  propositions. 
He  had  no  fJiith  in  the  sincerity  of  their  professions,  they  none  in  his, 
and  though  different  times  were  assigned  for  a  conference  he  did  not 
appear.  When  nothing  was  to  be  accomplished  in  the  field,  corre- 
spondence afforded  him  opportunity  to  express  his  sense  of  the 
perfidious  policy  pursued  towards  his  countrymen,  to  gain  time,  ob- 
tain information  and  also  provide  for  reverses. 

Dundalk  and  Xewry  sixteen  miles  farther  north,  continued  through- 
out the  war  the  base  of  opei'ations  against  Ulster,  and  in  May  Norris 
lay  before  the  latter  place  in  great  force  out  of  reach  of  Tyrone. 
He  had  resolved  to  rebuild  Armagh  and  started  for  the  purpose, 
when  pounced  upon  a  few  miles  out  at  the  church  of  Killoony  by 
the  earl,  accompanied  by  Maguire,  O'Kane,  sons  of  OTIanlon  and 
other  chiefs.  It  Avas  past  noon  when  the  battle  began.  When  it 
ended  the  general  and  his  army  were  in  full  retreat  for  Newry,  their 
loss  in  the  engagement  and  rout  six  hundred,  Tyrone's  one  third 
that  number. 

Advantage  was  taken  soon  after  of  the  absence  of  O'Neil,  to  re- 
occupy  Armagh  with  forces  from  Dundalk,  and  Henry  Davers  left 
in  command.  Xorris  proceeded  to  Portmore.  But  his  march 
be^'Ond  was  blocked  by  the  army  of  Tyrone.  In  order  to  keep 
open  his  communications  with  Newry,  the  general  constructed 
Mount  Xorris,  his  work  greatly  impeded  by  the  foe.  Many  encoun- 
ters took  place,  in  which  the  English  sustained  the  most  loss.  When 
sufficiently  advanced  to  be  tenable  the  general  entrusted  the  new  fort 
at  Portmore  to  Williams  and  withdrew.  Tyrone  cut  off  its  supplies. 
Xorris  marched  back  to  its  relief,  encountering  O'X'cil  at  Molachbreac, 
in  Orior.  Twice  thrown  into  confusion  the  English  renewed  the  fight, 
but  ]MacGuire  with  his  cavalry  decided  the  contest  by  a  brilliant 


520  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

charge,  Norris  fell  wounded  by  a  cannon  ball ;  and  Ulster  again  tri- 
umphed. This  was  the  last  encounter  between  Tyrone  and  Norris, 
who  proceeded  when  sufficiently  restored  from  his  hurt  into  Con- 
naught. 

There  at  Athlone  he  gathered  his  strength,  and  with  an  army  of 
ten  thousand  men  occupied  the  bank  of  the  Robe,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  which  river  O'Donnel  encamped.  Parleys  by  day  were  fol- 
lowed by  skirmishes  at  night,  sallies  and  surprises,  and  many  men 
fell.  Thaddeus  OTvourke  joined  O'Donnel.  Norris  for  want  of 
food  at  last  broke  up  his  camp,  and  followed  close  and  hard  pressed 
by  the  foe  contrived  an  ambuscade  which  was  fortunately  discovered 
in  season.  O'Donnel  rode  speedily  to  the  head  of  his  columns  and 
ordered  them  back  just  in  time  to  save  them.  Norris  lost  in  Ireland 
his  reputation  as  a  successful  general,  but  his  military  abilities  are  gen- 
erally conceded  as  also  many  generous  and  noble  traits  of  character. 
Want  of  supplies  baffled  his  movements,  and  orders  sent  over  from 
the  queen  and  her  ministers  were  often  based  upon  entire  ignorance 
of  the  situation.  Moreover,  Essex  all  powerful  was  not  his  friend, 
and  Russell  provoked  that  he  should  be  preferred  before  himself, 
often  stood  in  the  way  of  his  success. 

Bingham  going  home  without  permission,  early  in  1507,  was  sent 
back  with  Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  appointed  in  his  place,  whose  amiable 
temper  and  generous  policy  at  this  particular  crisis  saved  English 
rule  from  extinction  in  Connaught.  The  earls  of  Thomond  and 
Clanrickard  remained  loyal  to  the  queen,  and  O'Connor  Sligo  who 
had  married  the  widow  of  Desmond,  recently  returned  from  court, 
influenced  his  feudatories,  Macdonogh  of  Tirrerill  and  O'Hart,  to  de- 
clare in  her  favor.  Hugh  Conor  Roe  and  Conor  Macdermot  with 
Theobald  of  the  ships,  son  of  Grace  O'Mally,  established  by  the  En- 
glish as  the  Mac  William  lochtar,  instead  of  the  other  Theobald,  son 
of  Walter,  lent  strength  to  this  confederacy.  O'Donnel  saw  the 
danger.      Sweeping  the  country  of  every  head  of  cattle  he  collected 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  521 

his  forces  in  Lcitrim  and  again  raitletlTiiTerill,  Corran  and  IIy-]\[any, 
reduced  Athenry,  burnt  up  to  the  gates  of  Galway.  His  prey  de- 
spatched over  the  Erne,  he  proceeded  to  Sligo,  and  there  in  Februa- 
ry routed  its  chieftain,  Avhereupon  ^Nlacdermot  and  other  chiefs  Avho 
were  wavering,  returned  to  their  allegiance. 

Not  all.  O'Conor  Roe,  Hugh  son  of  Turlogh,  excited  much  dis- 
trust, and  yet  as  O'Rourke  befriended  him  he  hesitated  to  bring  him 
to  terms.  Encamping  at  Glericar,  he  invited  that  chieftain  to  join 
him,  iKit  without  waiting  for  his  arrival  lie  entered  O'Conor's  territory 
and  carried  off  his  herds.  O'Rourke,  provoked  at  what  he  conceived 
this  breach  of  good  faith,  made  his  peace  with  the  governor.  Ma- 
guire  with  his  nephew  Cormac  O'Xeil  raided  ^Slullingar  ;  iNIacdermots 
Glinsk  the  abode  of  Mac  David,  who  defeated  them  on  their  way 
home.  The  Irish  Mac  William  plundered  O'Mallies,  kinsfulk  of  the 
queen's.  Burkes  of  Castleconnel  laid  claim  to  Portcrush  and  attacked 
the  reapers  of  ^Margaret  Cusack  widow  of  lord  Inchiquin,  to  whom 
it  belonged.  A  fierce  battle  resulted  in  the  death  of  many  men  of 
note  on  either  side,  among  them  Hugh  O'Hogan,  excellent  and  rich. 
O'Conor  Don,  long  prisoner  of  Tyrconnel,  set  at  liberty  promised 
obedience,  giving  for  pledge  the  sons  of  O'Beirne,  O'Flynn,  OHanly 
and  his  own. 

Much  no  doubt  to  the  grief  of  the  economical  queen,  there  ex- 
ploded in  March,  on  Yvlnetavern  street,  in  Dublin,  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  barrels  of  gunpowder  sent  over  for  the  benefit  of  her  loving 
subjects,  causing  great  havoc.  The  buildings  all  around  were  demol- 
ished. It  gave  work  to  the  carpenters,  organized  into  a  guild  in  1583, 
and  who  at  this  time  were  receiving  their  charter. 

In  May,  the  deputy,  his  last  feat  before  his  administration  end- 
ed, subdued  O'Byrne,  who  dying  in  battle  left  two  sons,  Felira  and 
Raymond,  to  inherit  his  courage,  his  zeal  for  the  catholic  cause  and 
his  death  to  avenge.  Felim  repaired  to  Tyrone,  who  lent  him  three 
hundred  and  fifty  men  under  Brian,  tanist  of  Leix,  and  after  seven 
66 


522  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

successful  battles  he  recovered  his  dominions,  a  large  English  force 
being  cut  to  pieces  in  Wexford.  Owen  and  Edmund  O'Moore,  sons 
of  Rory  killed  in  1578,  had  been  carefully  nurtured  by  Fiagh  and 
trained  for  military  service.  The  eldest  was  elected  chieftain  by  his 
sept.  At  the  battle  of  Stradbally  bridge  he  defeated  and  slew  Alex- 
ander and  Francis  Cosby,  son  and  grandson  of  the  infamous  Cosby 
of  MuUamast,  who  had  usurped  his  inheritance,  and  later  overcame 
St.  Leger,  who  left  on  the  field  five  hundred  of  his  men. 

In  1596  died  Donald,  who  had  been  for  thirty  years  earl  of  Clan- 
carre,  and  as  Maccarthy  Mor,  lord  paramount  of  fourteen  countries 
for  forty.  His  only  legitimate  son,  lord  of  Valentia,  left  as  a  hos- 
tage for  his  father  in  the  castle  of  Dublin,  made  his  escape  in  1588 
into  France  and  there  died.  Another  son,  but  illegitimate,  named 
Donal,  claimed  succession  to  the  chieftainship.  Ellen,  his  only 
surviving  child  born  in  wedlock,  and  his  heir  at  least  by  English 
law,  had  become  in  1588  wife  of  Florence  Maccarthy  of  Carbery  son 
of  Donogh,  through  the  good  offices  of  O'Sullivan  Mor  his  brother- 
in-law  who  had  gained  the  consent  of  her  parents  to  the  alliance. 
The  queen,  minded  to  espouse  Ellen  to  some  Englishman  of  her 
court,  manifested  her  resentment  against  Florence  by  imprisoning 
him  in  the  tower  of  London,  which  with  other  places  of  confinement 
for  nearly  half  a  century  as  already  mentioned  was  to  be  his  abode. 
Clancarre  mortgaged  portions  of  his  territory  to  his  new  son-in-law 
for  Ellen's  dowry  of  six  thousand  pounds,  and  mvich  given  to  hospitality 
and  sumptuous  entertainments  to  English  functionaries,  other  por- 
tions to  Sir  Valentine  Browne  his  neighbor,  for  five  hundred.  This 
last  encumbrance  on  Cosmaigne,  Glanerought  and  Ballicarbery,  Flor- 
ence was  allowed  to  redeem  in  1630  on  payment  of  the  loan.  In 
1595  in  Dublin  he  had  offered  his  services  to  Russell  against  O'Neil, 
but  they  were  not  accepted. 

Florence  claimed  Clancarre  for  his  wife  by  family  settlement  and 
also  under  the  patent  from  the  crown.     Strange  to  say,  no  nearer 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  523 

kinsman  of  the  earl  advanced  any  pretension  either  to  estate  or  chicf- 
tainry,  than  the  chief  of  Diihallo,  descended  frora  Donal-na- 
Curragh  who  died  nearly  four  centuries  before.  By  the  death  of  his 
uncle  Owen,  in  1593,  Florence  had  become  tanist  of  Carbery,  next 
in  succession  to  Donal-na-pipi,  son  of  his  uncle  Cormac,  who  had 
entered  into  bonds,  with  ten  thousand  pounds  penalty,  not  to  defeat 
his  succession,  and  upon  Donal's  death,  which  actually  occurred  in 
1014,  Florence  if  surviving  was  to  succeed.  Clancarre  and  Carbery 
united,  their  chief  would  become  as  powerful  as  Tyrone.  This  would 
have  conflicted  with  English  policy,  and  serves  to  explain  the  injustice 
practised  towards  Florence,  who  if  he  had  his  faults,  none  to  justify 
robbing  him  and  his  descendants  of  their  birthright. 

During  the  last  ten  years  many  other  pei'sonages  of  note  men- 
tioned by  the  annalists  finished  their  course  :  John  CoglJan  famous 
for  his  many  well  appointed  abodes  ;  Thomas  sixteenth  lord  Kerry, 
best  purchaser  of  wines,  horses  and  literary  works  of  his  day  ;  Don- 
nel  Mac  Sweeny  constable  of  Muskerry,  praiseworthy  in  the  eyes 
of  English  and  Irish;  Turlogh  Roe  O'Boyle,  at  Ballyweel  in  1591, 
most  distinguished  of  his  tribe,  sustaining  pillar  of  the  learned  and 
destitute,  exalter  of  sanctuaries,  churches  and  science,  the  personifi- 
cation like  Guaire  a  thousand  years  before  of  generosity ;  Brian 
Mac  Dermot  lord  of  Moylurg  in  1592  ;  Donnel  Mac  Namara  Reagh 
of  West  Clancuillan,  sumptuous,  warlike,  bountiful,  humane  ;  Cathe- 
rine daughter  of  Donnell  Reagh  and  wife  of  Muskerry,  sensible, 
pious,  charitable ;  Dermot  O'Dwyer  of  Kilnemanagh  in  Tipperary, 
succeeding  his  father  Phillip  ;  Teigue  Mac  Mahon  lord  of  east  Corca- 
vaskin  ;  Sir  Owen  O'Sullivan,  deprived  the  year  before  by  the  coun- 
cil of  Beare  and  Dunboy  in  favor  of  his  nephew  Donnel  chosen  by 
the  sept  for  their  chief;  Macon  O'Clery  ollav  to  O'Donnel  in  history, 
learned  and  ingenious,  an  orator  fluent  and  eloquent ;  Hugh  Magen- 
nis,  of  renown ;  Turlogh  lord  of  West  Corcavaskin ;  Sir  John 
O'GaUagher,  of  great  name  ;  John  O'Reilly,  accidentally  shot  by  the 


524  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

O'lSTeils  who  had  made  him  chief  of  BrefFny,  succeeded  in  1597  by 
his  uncle  Edmund ;  Theobald  Butler  lord  of  Cahir,  who  possessed  the 
largest  collection  of  poetical  compositions  of  any  of  English  race  in 
Ireland ;  Nial  Mageoghan ;  Owen  Mac  Sweeny  Tuath,  influential 
and  generous,  who  had  never  incurred  reproach  from  the  time  he  as- 
sumed the  chieftainship,  sumptuous,  warlike,  humane  and  bountiful, 
powerful  to  sustain  and  brave  to  make  attack,  and  of  good  sense 
and  counsel  in  peace  and  war. 


XL. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
When  events  disappointed  expectation  recourse  was  had  to  change 
of  rulers.  Eussell  had  already  expressed  a  Avish  to  be  recalled.  Es- 
sex and  Norris,  rivals  for  glory  or  preferment  in  continental  warfare, 
eager  to  succeed  him,  were  alike  disappointed.  On  the  twenty-second 
of  May,  1597,  Thomas  de  Bourgh,  sixth  baron  of  the  English  branch 
of  his  name,  and  whose  brother  John  had  won  celebrity  in  the  naval 
service,  qualified  as  deputy.  Of  elevated  character,  great  liberality 
and  familiar  with  the  science  of  Avar,  he  gained  popularity  Avith  lords 
and  chieftains  near  the  pale  by  his  frank  and  courteous  demeanor. 
He  proposed,  doubtless  in  good  faith  and  Avith  the  hope  of  effecting  a 
peace,  truce  for  thirty  days,  but  meanAA^iile  made  CA^ery  preparation 
against  the  possibility  of  hostilities  being  renewed.  He  sent  Norris 
AA^hom  Essex  did  not  like  back  to  his  presidency  in  Munster,  Avitli 
orders  not  to  leaA'e  it,  and  there  tAvo  months  later,  that  veteran  officer 
died  in  the  arms  of  his  brother  in  consequence  of  festering  AA^ounds, 
or  broken  hearted  at  unmerited  disgrace.  The  deputy  sent  Avord  to 
Clifford  in  Connaught  to  occupy  the  attention  of  O'Donnel,  and  fol- 
loAv  him  into  Tyrone,  and  proclaimed  a  general  hosting  at  Drogheda 
or  the  twentieth  of  July  to  march  into  Ulster. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  525 

Four  tlays  later,  Clifford  assembled  his  troops  at  Coylc.  Clan- 
rickard,  Tliomoud,  chiefs  of  Mayo  and  Roscommon,  a  numerous  and 
gallant  array,  they  proceeded  by  Sligo  to  cross  the  Erne,  but 
O'Donnel  had  posted  detachments  at  its  several  fords.  At  the  falls 
of  Athcullainc  they  effected  their  passage,  losing  many  men  washed 
down  the  stream,  and  lord  Inchiquin  was  shot  while  in  its  midst 
endeavoring  to  save  them.  The  army  passed  Sunday,  the  first  of 
August,  at  Assaroe,  waiting  for  their  artillery  sent  by  sea  from  Gal- 
way,  and  which  tliey  planted  the  next  day  against  Bally  shannon. 
After  battering  its  walls  for  three  days,  a  strong  force  well  protected 
by  their  shields  and  defensive  armor,  with  machines  for  undermining 
the  foundation,  approached  the  castle.  Crawford  with  his  garrison 
of  eighty  men  destroyed  their  works  as  fast  as  they  were  constructed, 
dropping  down  upon  them  large  stones,  heavy  beams  and  vvood- 
en  blocks,  till  finding  the  attempt  without  result  the  assailants  were 
called  off.  In  a  cavalry  skirmish  Donogh  O'Connor  Sligo  was  bad- 
ly wounded. 

O'Donnell  by  Monday  had  gathered  his  troo^is  and  with  them 
O'Rourkes  and  ]Maguires,  and  surrounding  the  besiegers  poured 
into  them  such  a  constant  fire  that  by  the  fifteenth  the  governor  in  des- 
pair held  a  council  of  war  with  a  view  of  raising  the  siege.  But  even 
this  was  attended  w^ith  danger,  for  the  fords  were  all  guarded. 
Starting  at  daybreak  and  leaving  their  guns  and  storeships  as  sjjoils  for 
the  enemy,  the  governor  recrosscd  the  Erne  by  the  falls  of  Assaroe, 
many  perishing  before  he  got  over.  When  intelligence  of  his  flight 
reached  the  sleeping  camp  of  O'Donnel,  the  alanii  was  sounded,  and 
his  troops  hastily  attired,  the  chief  started  in  pursuit.  The  English 
army  with  their  twenty-two  battalions  well  armed,  were  drawn  up  in 
a  strong  position  by  the  sea  shore.  They  were  compelled  to  yield 
o-round,  and  fighting  as  they  went  and  favored  by  torrents  of  rain 
which  spoiled  the  powder  of  their  pursuers  whilst  their  own  was  pro- 
tected by  garments  worn  over  their  armor,  they  reached  Sligo.     They 


526  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

did  not  dare  to  stop  there,  and  the  coming  morning  pushing  on  to 
Boyle  withdrew  to  their  several  homes,  Clifford  going  back  in  hu- 
miliation to  Athlone. 

Meanwhile  the  deputy  with  an  army  largely  composed  of  veterans 
who  had  gained  experience  under  Russell  and  Norris  and  which  had 
been  reinforced  from  England  and  the  pale,  proceeded  into  Ulster. 
Guided  by  Turlogh  son  of  Phelim  O'Neil,  he  crossed  the  Blackwater 
unopposed.  As  O'Donnel  suffered  CliflPord  to  cross  the  Erne,  it  may 
have  been  strategy  on  the  part  of  Tyrone  to  allow  the  deputy  to 
penetrate  into  his  territory  where  he  would  have  him  more  at  disad- 
vantage. Armagh  and  Portmore  had  been  dismantled,  and  the  deputy 
razing  a  fort  used  for  observation  constructed  another  of  larger  di- 
mensions, and  placed  it  in  charge  of  Thomas  Williams  with  three 
hundred  men.  He  was  on  his  way  back  to  Dublin  when  he  learned 
that  Tyrone  had  attempted  to  take  the  work  by  storm. 

Turning  back  he  found  the  catholics  in  two  camps,  one  under  Mac 
Mahon  and  the  sons  of  Tyrone,  on  the  road  to  Benburb,  James  Mac- 
donnel  son  of  Sorleboy  in  the  other  with  Tyrone  himself,  who  kept 
up  night  and  day  a  continual  fire  upon  his  troops.  To  protect  them 
and  strengthen  his  position,  he  endeavored  to  restore  the  Norris  fort 
to  a  defensible  condition,  Tyrone  endeavoring  to  embarrass  his 
work.  O'Donnel  set  free  from  Clifford  and  arriving  with  his  cavalry 
defeated  Terence  Mac  Henry,  another  O'Neil,  who  had  taken  part 
with  the  English. 

During  these  operations,  the  deputy  with  several  of  his  principal 
officers  ascended  an  eminence  near  his  camp  to  reconnoitre,  when 
the  enemy  on  the  alert  improving  the  chance  offered  by  his  impru- 
dence, rushed  up  the  hill  and  many  were  slain.  On  this  occasion 
or  in  a  nocturnal  attack  by  the  catholics  on  the  royal  camp,  the 
deputy  himself  was  mortally  wounded.  Lest  this  should  discourage 
his  army  or  elate  the  foe,  it  was  not  suffered  if  true  to  transpire, 
and  carried  off  on  a  litter  as  if  only  ill,  towards  Newry,  he  died  on 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  527 

tlie  way,  before   the  thirtieth  of  August,  about  six  weeks  from  tlie 
time  he  left  Drogheda. 

The  command  devolved  upon  Henry  twelfth  earl  of  Kildare,  who 
"  full  of  lightness  and  temerity  "  and  vainly  confident  of  his  ability 
to  effect  what  the  deputy  could  not,  with  his  best  troops  proceeded 
through  woods  and  by  obscure  paths  and  supposed  he  had  surmount- 
ed all  the  difficulties  in  his  way,  when  the  catholics  gathering  around 
brought  him  to  battle.  Sixty  of  his  choicest  troopers  fell,  and  with 
them,  Turner  the  treasurer  of  the  army,  Francis  Vaughan  brother- 
in-law  of  the  dei)uty,  and  Thomas  Walvvyn.  Kildare  twice  forced 
from  the  saddle  by  opposing  lances  was  reseated  by  two  O'Conors 
of  OfFaly,  sons  of  his  nurse  and  his  own  kinsmen,  and  badly  shaken 
fled  to  die  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  either  from  his  wounds  or  grief  for 
the  loss  of  his  foster  brothers,  who  whilst  engaged  in  remounting  him 
had  been  surrounded  and  slain.  Many  of  the  royalists  were  wound- 
ed, and  all  who  had  come  out  on  the  expedition  were  either  killed  or 
driven  back.*  The  royal  army  after  having  been  engaged  for  nearly 
four  months  in  battles  and  skirmishes  between  Benburb  and  Port- 
more,  garrisons  being  left  under  "Williams  at  the  latter  place  and  at 
Armagh,  withdrew  into  winter  quarters,  and  all  the  septs  and  chiefs 
whom  Bourg  had  conciliated  returned  to  their  earlier  and  more  natural 
fealty  to  Tyrone. 

In  response  to  appeal  for  assistance  Tyrone  had  detached  fifteen 
hundred  men  into  Leinster,  four  hundred  of  them  placed  under  Tir- 
rell  of  Fertulagh  in  West  Meath.  A  larger  army  under  Barnwall  lord 
Trimlestown  was  nigh,  on  its  way  to  join  the  deputy.     Xot  deeming 

*  Cox  and  the  Four  Masters  mention  two  expeditions  in  L597,  by  the  deputy  totlic 
Blackwater;  Lombard  who  wrote  in  ICOO  but  one,  and  one  battle,  in  which  Kildare  ami 
Bourg  were  both  mortally  wounded ;  O'Sullivan  mentions  but  one  expedition ;  but  with 
Mageoghan  states  that  Kildare  succeeded  to  the  command  after  Bourg  was  wounded.  Two 
letters  dated  the  third  of  August  from  Dublin  mention  Kildare's  death  as  occurring  on  the 
second  of  that  month,  and  Collins  and  Lodge  concur  substantially  with  them,  but  dates  are 
not  always  reliable.  The  history  of  the  house  of  Kildare  and  its  supplemental  volume  in 
the  text  state  that  he  died  on  the  thirtieth  of  September  at  Drogheiia.  His  brother  William 
succeeded  to  the  earldom  and  to  his  special  command  as  a  cavalry  officer,  but  there  seems 
no  ground  for  believing  that  he  took  command  of  the  army  on  the  Bhickwatcr  after  Bourg 
gave  it  up.  That  the  deputy  should  have  marched  his  army  to  the  capital  and  then  returned 
seems  less  consistent  with  what  is  known  than  that  he  started  and  came  back. 


528  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

SO  small  a  force  worthy  of  his  own  steel,'  Barnwall  sent  his  son  with 
a  thousand  men  to  engage  Tirrell ;  but  that  able  officer  with  O'Con- 
nor to  aid  found  it  easy  to  outgeneral  the  inexperienced  youth.  At 
a  pass  near  his  own  abode,  and  since  known  by  his  name,  he  waylaid 
the  approaching  force,  and  utterly  annihilated  them,  the  leader  him- 
self being  spared  and  sent  prisoner  to  Tyrone.  The  hand  of 
O'Conor,  the  hero  of  the  day,  was  so  swollen  at  night  by  his  work 
that  a  file  was  needed  to  disengage  it  from  his  hilt. 

Thomas  Norris,  summoned  from  the  presidency  of  Munster,  in 
which  he  had  succeeded  John,  was  elected  by  the  council,  lord  justice, 
but  jT-rievino;  for  the  loss  of  his  brother  after  a  month  resioned.  Loftus 
and  Gardiner,  in  November,  were  put  in  his  place,  and  Ormond 
appointed  lord  general  of  the  army.  Tyrone  seeking  to  starve  out 
the  garrison  left  at  Armagh,  encamped  a  mile  beyond  that  city  on 
the  road  by  which  he  thought  relief  would  be  sent.  His  son  Con, 
angry  with  him  for  reasons  not  stated,  a  few  days  before  had  joined 
the  English,  with  whom  his  nephew  Terence  then  was,  and  they  con- 
ducted the  marshal  with  his  supplies  by  secret  paths  to  victual  theplace. 
Thirteen  hundred  infantry  and  three  troops  of  cavalry  engaged  Cor- 
mac  O'Neil,  brother  of  Tyrone,  in  battle,  whilst  the  convoy  entered 
the  gates  and  returned. 

Terence  and  Con,  easily  angered,  thirsted  for  the  blood  of  the 
earl,  and  also  hating  O'Hanlon  still  more,  led  Bagnal  to  the 
catholic  camp,  and  to  the  tent  where  they  supposed  the  latter  was 
sleeping,  but  it  j^roved  that  of  the  earl,  twenty-four  of  whose  mount- 
ed body-guard  were  slain,  and  O'Neil  and  those  that  were  with  him 
forced  to  flee  half  awake  and  half  clad.  The  royalists  took  the  aban- 
doned tents,  killing  the  attendants  who  were  left.  O'Xeil  gathered 
his  forces  and  the  day  after  pursued  his  despoilers,  doing  them  some 
hurt ;  but  Bagnal  was  greatly  elated  at  having  relieved  Armagh  and 
driven  O'Neil  from  his  camp  besides  for  the  few  that  Avere  slain. 

In  November  Sir  John  Chichester  holdin":  Carrickfergus  sallied 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  529 

forth,  with  five  hundred  men,  to  attack  James  Mac  Donnel  who 
having  placed  in  ambush  a  part  of  his  Hiii'hlanders  at  a  cave  four 
miles  off,  approached  the  town  Avith  the  hope  not  disappointed  of 
tempting  him  out.  A  combat  with  fire  arms  resulted  in  the  dis- 
comfiture of  the  English,  when  Sir  John  bringing  up  his  horse 
restored  the  battle.  Macdonnel  with  his  own  cavalry  charged  upon 
Chichester  and  was  thrice  struck  by  the  lance  of  his  antagonist, 
which  did  not  penetrate  his  corslet.  Yielding  ground,  and  seeming 
to  retreat,  Macdonnel  drew  Sir  John  towards  the  cave,  and  as  they 
reached  the  spot,  the  concealed  Highlanders  emerging  from  their 
covert  fell  Uj)on  their  foe  and  chased  them  for  three  miles,  killing  or 
wounding  so  many  that  scarcely  one  got  back  to  tell  the  tale.  Sir 
John  taken  prisoner  was  beheaded  on  a  stone  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Glynn.  A  monument  having  been  erected  to  his  honor  in  the  family 
burial  place,  the  church  of  St.  Nicholas  at  Carrickfergus,  a  year  or 
two  after  Macdonnel  visited  the^ church.  His  attention  directed 
to  the  statue  of  Sir  John  forming  part  of  the  monument,  he 
exclaimed,  "  where  did  he  get  his  head  again,  he  was  sure  he  cut  it 
off." 

Ormond  favored  accommodation  ;  war  absorbing  her  revenue,  the 
queen  wished  it  at  an  end.  At  her  instance  he  opened  negotiations 
and  at  Christmas  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  met  him  and  Thomond  at 
Dundalk.  The  presence  of  Fenton  likewise  commissioner  must  have 
discouraged  much  confidential  communication,  as  he  reported  to  court 
whatever  bechanced.  For  three  days  they  discoursed  the  situation, 
Tyrone  protesting  "  on  the  knees  of  his  heart  "  that  injustice  alone 
had  forced  him  into  hostilities  and  that  he  was  ready  to  make  peace 
on  reasonable  terms.  A  truce  for  eight  weeks  was  agreed  upon  ;  he 
promised  to  recall  his  troops  from  Leinster,  hold  no  correspondence 
with  Spain,  allow  Portmore  to  be  provisioned.  Mutual  trade  be- 
tween Ulster  and  the  pale  was  to  be  permitted.  Tyrone  undertook  to 
procure  the  release  from  O'Moore  of  James,  brother  of  Ormond,  and 
67 


530  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

furnish  forty  beeves  to  the  beleaguered  fortress.  His  wrongs  and 
cLaims  were  to  be  transmitted  in  a  book  to  the  queen.  Peace  seemed 
assured.  O'Eourke,  provoked  with  O'Donnel  for  raiding  O'Conor 
Roe,  and  other  western  chiefs  submitted  to  Clifford. 

When  on  the  fifteenth  of  March  the  negotiators  reassembled  to 
learn  the  queen's  mind,  its  perversity  proved  in  the  ascendant.  The 
chiefs  were  imperiously  ordered  to  disband  their  troops  and  send 
away  their  allies,  and  betray  all  intercourse  with  Spain  ;  Tyrone  to 
renounce  the  title  of  O'Xeil,  exercise  no  authority  over  his  uriaghts, 
rebuild  at  his  own  expense  the  bridge  and  fort  at  Blackwater,  pay  a 
fine,  admit  a  sheriff,  deliver  up  traitors,  surrender  the  sons  of  Shane, 
and  give  his  own  eldest  son  as  hostage.  Freedom  of  worship  was 
not  to  be  tolerated  and  priests  and  friars  were  to  be  banished.  His 
answer  was  sufficiently  courteous,  but  not  to  be  mistaken.  He 
could  not  desert  his  confederates  till  they  had  time  to  submit ;  he 
was  willing  to  relinquish  the  title  of  O'Xeil,  but  not  his  power  as 
chieftain.  Shane's  sons  were  his  prisoners,  not  the  queen's.  One  of 
his  own  peoj^le  might  be  appointed  sheriff,  but  that  better  be  deferred. 
He  would  surrender  refugees  for  political  offences  but  not  for  con- 
science sake,  and  refused  to  give  his  son  as  hostage.  Clanrickard 
and  Thomond  persuaded  the  queen  to  abate  some  of  her  pretensions, 
and  on  the  eleventh  of  April  his  pardon  passed  the  seal,  but  this  he 
scornfully  rejected  and  sent  aid  to  O'Byrne,  encouraged  Raymond 
Burke  against  his  uncle  Clanrickard  and  O'Rourke  to  break  with 
Clifford. 

Reinforcements  sent  from  home,  the  new  levies  placed  in  gar- 
rison relieved  for  the  field  the  more  experienced  veterans.  The 
justices  divided  their  forces,  three  thousand  invading  Leix  under  Or- 
mond  who  sent  against  Brian  O'Moore  a  third  of  his  men  under 
his  nephew  James,  a  catholic.  James  fell,  and  his  army  routed 
would  have  been  destroyed  by  Brian  had  not  Ormond  come  up. 
Brian  dying  four  days  after  of  wounds  received  in  the  conflict,  Owen 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  531 

took  command  of  the  O'^Ioorcs,  and  with  luiymond  Burke  lord  of 
Leitrim,  deprived  of  his  inheritance  by  his  uncle  Clanrickard  who  had 
slain  his  fatlier,  with  Dermad  O'Conor  Don  and  Richard  Tirrcll, 
drove  Ormond  out  of  Leix. 

Portmore  still  held  out  against  O'Xcil,  Avhose  forty  beeves,  duly 
delivered,  ten  of  them  rejected  and  replaced,  had  been  soon  used  up. 
O'Donnel  advised  an  assault.  Ladders  to  hold  five  abreast  had  been 
prepared,  but  the  garrison  aware  of  Avhat  was  being  designed  deepened 
the  ditch,  and  they  fell  short.  One  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  be- 
siegers fell  in  the  attempt.  AVithout  artillery  no  impression  could  be 
made  upon  the  citadel  protected  by  earthworks,  and  in  a  position  al- 
most impregnable.  Famine  however  was  doing  its  work  upon  its 
gallant  defenders,  who  devoured  their  horses  and  gleaned  the  weeds 
from  the  ditch.  The  queen  chided  her  council  and  officials  for  not 
affording  relief,  and  sent  reinforcements  with  stringent  orders  no 
longer  to  delay. 

The  marshal  led  a  large  army  from  Dundalk  and  Newry  to  the  aid 
of  the  beleagured  fortress,  by  Armagh  which  was  reached  the  third 
day.     Bagnal  skilled  in  military  science,  possessed  what  is  rare  in  a 
commander,  sagacity,  great  presence  of  mind  and  prudence  in  pros- 
perous circumstances,  not  losing  courage  in  adverse,  and  was  far  less 
overbearing  to  the  conquered  than  most  of  his  countrymen  who  were 
not  then  noted  for  kindness  of  deed  or  word  to  prostrate  foe.     Few 
officers  in  the  service  equalled,  none  surpassed  him.     His  hatred  to 
O'Neil,  not  on  public  considerations,  for  his  religion  or  for  his  hostility 
to  the  queen ,  but  on  private  grounds ,  was  intense .     His  army  consisted 
of   fortv-five  hundred  infantry  under    forty  banners,  five    hundred 
horse  under  eight  commanded  by  Montague.      In  the» whole  number 
there  were  more  Irish  than  English,  but  all  veterans,  the  latter  survi- 
vors of  those  wdio  had  served  in  France  under  Norris,  been  summoned 
from  the  garrisons   in  the  Low  Countries,  or  who  had  learned  the 
methods  of  Irish  warfare  from  the  beginning  of  hostilities  ;  the  former 


532  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

content  to  learn  their  profession  in  the  pay  of  the  queen  and  who  had 
given  frequent  proofs  of  their  bravery. 

With  the  royahsts,  of  noble  birth,  were  Maelraora  O'Reilly, 
son  of  the  prince  of  Breffney,  of  rare  elegance  of  form,  and  called 
"  the  handsome,"  from  the  beauty  of  his  countenance,  and  also  Chris- 
topher St.  Lavs^rence,  son  of  lord  Howth,  descendant  of  that  Araory 
St.  Lawrence  whose  gallant  achievements  won  Ulster  four  centuries 
before.  Among  them  all  not  one  was  a  novice  in  war  or  untrained  in 
any  branch  of  its  service.  Infantry,  cavalry  in  mail,  musketmen 
with  weapons  heavy  or  light,  girded  with  sword  and  dagger,  helmets 
on  their  heads,  formed  a  brilliant  array  which  glowed  with  colored 
plumes,  silken  baldrics  and  other  warlike  splendors.  Guns  of  pol- 
ished brass  drawn  on  wheels,  powder  and  ball  and  bullets  abounded. 
Horses  and  oxen  bore  masses  of  meat  and  bread,  not  for  the  army 
alone  but  for  the  relief  of  Portmore,  with  the  usual  impediments  of 
drivers,  caterers  and  followers  of  the  camp. 

O'Neil  striving  to  reduce  Portmore  by  famine,  lay  with  his  army 
about  three  miles  from  Armagh,  when  he  heard  of  the  approach 
of  the  enemy.  He  moved  his  camp  within  two  miles  of  that  city, 
leaving  a  small  force  to  prevent  the  garrison  from  sallying  forth  in 
his  rear.  The  catholics  that  day  numbered  about  forty-five  hundred 
foot  and  six  hundred  hoi'se  ;*  O'Donnel  with  two  thousand  men,  one 
half  from  Connaught  under  Mac  William,  the  rest  his  own  Kind 
Konnel ;  O'Neil  surrounded  by  his  brothers  and  kinsmen  and  chiefs 
bound  to  him  by  ancient  obligations,  nearly  all   the  noble  youth  of 

*  Neil  Br.yan  of  Upper  Clanaboy,  80  foot,  30  horse ;  Shane  Mac  Bryan  of  Lower  Clana- 
boy,  80  footj  50  horse;  MacRory  of  Kilwarlin,  60  foot,  10  horse;  Shane  Mac  Bryan  Carogh 
from  Bannside,  -50  foot,  10  liorse ;  Art  f)'Neil,330  foot,  60  hor:?e;  Henry  Oge  O'Neil,  200 
foot,  40  horse;  Tiirlogh  Mac  Henry  of  the  Fews,  30U  foot,  60  horse;  Cormac  brother  of 
Tyrone,  300  foot,  ij(f  horse  ;  Tyrone,  70i)  foot,  200  hor.-e  ;  Dufferm  White's  county,  20  foot; 
Mac  Ariiin  of  Down,  100  foot,  20  liorse;  M.icginness  of  Iveagli,  20*  foot,  40  horse ;  Mac 
Murtogh  from  mein  water,  40  Foot;  O'liagan  of  TuHalioge,  lUli  foot,  30  horse;  James  Mac 
Donnell,  Route  and  Glvnns,  400  foot,  100  horse ;  Magiiire,  600  loot,  100  liorse  ;  Mac  Mahons, 
600  loot,  160  horse;  O'Reilly,  800  foot,  lOU  horse;  U'Cahan  Lough  Foyle  and  Baun,  500 
foot,  200  horse;  from  Tyrcoiinel,  Hugh  Roe,  350  foot,  1 10  horse;  O'Uoherty  of  luishowen, 
300  foot,  40  horse ;  Mac'  Sweenys,  oOO  foot,  30  horse  ;  O'Boyle,  100  foot,  20  horse  ;  O'Gal- 
lagher  of  Ballyshanmioii,  200  foot,  40  liorse.  Total,  (i780  foot,  lolO  horse ;  Totil,  horse  and 
foot,  8290;  sent  into  Lcin>ter,  1500;  balance  6790.  Deductions  of  one  third  for  garrisons, 
hospitals  and  furloughs  would  leave  the  number  in  the  text. 


TRANSFER     OF    ERIN.  533 

Ulster  and  many  from  Connanght.  They  were  far  inferior  in 
weapons,  for  both  horse  and  foot  were  lightly  armed.  "  Few  of  them 
were  clad  in  armor  like  the  English,  but  they  had  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  spears  and  broad  lances  with  strong  handles  of  ash  ;  of  straight 
keen  edged  swords  and  thin  polished  battle  axes.  They  had  besides 
javelins,  bows  and  arrows  and  guns  with  matchlocks."  O'Neil  know- 
ing well  the  efficiency  of  the  enemy,  the  deliberate  courage  of  their 
leader  and  their  superiority  in  arms  and  strength,  hesitated  as  a  cau- 
tious general  might,  and  would  have  retreated  had  not  O'Clery,  an 
interpreter  of  the  Irish  prophecies,  pointed  out  a  prediction  of  Saint 
Bearchan  in  ancient  verse,  that  on  that  spot  the  heretics  would  be 
conquered. 

O'Xeil  encouraged,  exhorted  his  soldiers  to  fight  as  christians  and 
brave  men.  What  they  had  long  earnestly  sought  by  prayer  and  sup- 
plication, had  at  last  by  difine  grace  been  granted.  They  had 
always  implored  the  father  and  the  heavenly  hosts,  that  they  might 
fight  the  protestants  on  equal  terms.  This  had  been  all  that  they 
asked.  Now  they  were  not  only  equal  but  superior  in  number,  and 
if  when  few  they  had  routed  their  enemy  surely  they  would  now 
Avhen  they  were  superior  in  strength.  Victory  came  not  from  life- 
less armor  or  empty  sound  of  artillery,  but  from  living  fearless 
souls.  They  must  remember  how  many  greater  generals,  stronger 
armies  they  had  conquered,  how  often  Bagnal  himself  when  they  were 
less  well  armed  and  disciplined.  Englishmen  at  no  time  were  com- 
parable in  valor  with  their  own  countrymen,  who  fighting  with  the 
enemy  against  their  faith  would  be  conscience  stricken,  whilst  that 
faith  would  nerve  their  own  arms  in  defence  of  religion,  country,  wives 
and  children.  Bagnal  their  most  bitter  enemy  who  sought  their  pos- 
sessions and  thirsted  for  their  blood,  who  had  assailed  his  own  honor, 
should  receive  the  punishment  he  deserved.  The  insult  at  their 
tents,  their  comrades  slain  at  Portmore,  cried  for  vengeance.  That 
stronirhold  which  had  so  long  resisted  their  efforts  must  be  reduced. 


534  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

With  God  and  his  saints  to  help  them,  the  victory  promised  by  his 
holy  prophet  was  at  hand.* 

The  address  of  Bagnal  to  his  army,  if  also  the  invention  of  the  his- 
torian, indicates  the  temper  of  the  times.  Trusting  in  their  fortitude, 
he  had  selected  them  as  his  comrades,  leaving  the  ignorant,  inexpe- 
rienced dregs  of  the  army  whose  inefficiency  might  have  encumbered 
their  movements  in  the  garrisons  under  Ormond.  With  them  he 
promised  himself  a  gioi'ious  victory.  His  experience  of  their  cour- 
age left  no  doubt  of  their  triumph.  He  could  not  but  think  that 
they  who  had  escaped  safe  from  so  many  perils  would  not  only  that 
day  wreath  their  own  life  with  glory,  but  revenge  their  comrades  slain 
under  Norris  and  De  Burgh.  Could  it  be  that  their  enemies  without 
armor  would  dare  encounter  men  strong  and  brave,  clothed  in  steel, 
armed  with  the  best  of  weapons.  It  seemed  folly  to  doubt  but  that 
the  coming  battle  would  bring  all  Ulster  under  the  yoke,  subject 
Ireland  to  the  queen,  win  vast  spoils  for  themselves.  They  should 
remember  their  valor  as  they  bore  relief  to  Armagh,  drove  O'Neil 
from  his  tent.  Whoever  at  evening  should  brinfj;  him  the  head  of 
that  chief  or  O'Donnel's  should  have  for  guerdon  a  thousand  pounds 
in  gold,  and  the  deserts  of  all  however  many  should  be  fittingly  ac- 
knowledged both  by  the  queen  and  himself.  But  they  should  hasten 
on  to  battle  and  not  delay  their  victory. 

His  harangue  over,  Bagnal  before  sunrise  of  the  fourteenth  of 
August,  the  day  Ormond  was  receiving  his  repulse  in  Leix  from 
Brian  O'^Ioore,  left  his  camp  at  Armagh.  His  spearmen  were  in 
three  bodies,  cavalry  and  gunners  before  and  behind.     Perry  led  the 

*  The  address  in  the  text  is  translated  from  the  Catholic  History.  O'Clery,  in  his  life  of 
O'Donnel,  gives  the  following  as  the  speech  of  Tyrone,  taken  from  the  Gaelic  version. 
Brave  people,  be  not  dismayed  at  the  English  on  account  of  their  foreign  appearance,  of 
their  array  and  the  strangeness  of  their  armor  and  arms,  the  sound  bf  their  trumpets  and 
tabours  and  warlike  instruments,  or  of  their  great  numbers,  for  it  is  certain  that  they  shall 
be  defeated  in  the  Ijattle  of  this  day.  Of  this  we  are  indeed  convinced,  for  you  are  on  the 
side  of  truth,  and  they  of  what  is  false,  fettering  you  in  prisons  and  beheading  you  in  order 
to  rol)you  of  your  patrimonies.  We  have  indeed  high  expectation  that  this  very  day  will 
distinguish  between  truth,  as  Moran  the  son  of  Maen  says :  There  has  never  l)eeu  found 
a  more  veritable  judge  than  the  Ijattle  field.  Moreover  it  is  easier  for  you  to  defend  your 
own  patrimony  after  being  expelled  from  your  native  country  which  has  been  in  yoar  pos- 
session for  twenty  centuries  (from  3o00  A.M.),  than  win  a  home  from  others. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  535 

van  followed  by  Bagual's  own  regiment,  then  Cosby's  and  Wlngiield't;, 
Qiiinn's  and  Billings'  bringing  up  the  rear.  Brooks,  Montague  and 
Fleming  commanded  tlie  cavalry.  They  left  in  Armagh  their  im- 
pediments and  whatever  could  encumber  their  march.  It  was  a  bright 
mid-summer  morning,  and  with  banners  flaunting,  trumpets  sounding, 
fife  and  drum,  in  all  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  war,  man  and  horse 
pushed  on  through  fields  exuberant  in  their  vernal  splendor,  eager 
for  the  fray.  The  road  soon  grew  narrow,  set  with  a  thin  growth 
of  low  junipers.  About  tlic  seventh  hour  from  l)eliind  these  trees 
and  flitting  among  them  five  himdred  skirmishers,  beardless  youth, 
posted  there  by  O'Xeil,  poured  into  their  ranks  a  hail  of  bullets  as 
far  as  the  wood  extended,  overthrowing  horse  and  man,  and  with  the 
more  safety  for  themselves  that  the  royal  cavalry  could  not,  for  the 
trees,  either  help  their  own  or  hurt  them.  The  ground  served  well  for 
those  that  occupied  it,  but  was  out  of  reach  of  the  advancing  foe. 

From  this  strait  Bagnal  with  difficulty  disengaged  his  men,  not  a 
little  damaged  by  this  sharp  skirmishing,  the  more  vexatious  from 
the  boyish  character  of  their  assailants.  Out  of  the  junipers,  the 
plain  spread  away  towards  the  catholics  and  the  royal  cavalry  charged 
at  full  speed  against  their  advanced  guards.  O'Neil  had  taken 
the  precaution  to  excavate  frequent  pitfalls  and  ditches  about  this 
open  ground  and  the  road  they  would  naturally  take,  concealed  from 
sight  by  grass  spread  over  thin  wattles  or  osiers  ;  and  into  these 
hollows  plunged  the  heavy  armed  troopers  to  the  danger  of  their 
horses  and  with  broken  limbs  for  the  riders,  the  catholic  skirmishers 
not  allowing  their  comrades  to  extricate  them.  By  this  device,  when 
the  royalists  reached  less  treacherous  ground  their  courage  was  abated 
by  the  loss  already  sustained.  The  troops  of  O'Neil  fresh  and  in 
full  vigor  relieved  their  jaded  comrades,  and  Bagnal's  skirmishers  and 
his  heavy  armed  infantry  engaged  in  the  fight.  Spearsmen  agile  and 
dexterous,  swooped  about,  again  and  again  rushing  into  tlie  melee, 
inflicting  wounds,  goring  their  foes  and  were  off.     Cuirassiers  fought 


536  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

with  spears  six  cubits  long  resting  against  their  thighs,  light  horse 
with  longer  lances  on  their  right  shoulders,  used  less  than  the  jave- 
lins, four  cubits  in  length  and  with  sharp  iron  points,  which  they 
cast.  Bao-nal,  often  brought  to  a  stand  by  these  troublesome  assail- 
ants whom  he  occasionally  drove  off  after  four  hours  incessant  fight- 
ing, drew  near  the  catholic  entrenchments.  Here  the  ground  with 
boo"s  on  either  side  contracted.  Tyrone  had  constructed  a  breastwork 
six  furlongs  in  length  and  four  feet  in  height  with  ditch  deeper  within, 
less  to  protect  his  own  army  than  embarrass  the  foe,  between  whom 
and  this  rampart  exuded  from  the  marshes  streams  of  turbid  water, 
from  which  the  battle  field  took  its  name  of  the  yellow  ford.  For 
two  hours,  in  which  ancient  and  modern  warfare  raged  side  by  side, 
was  fought  by  men  of  intrepid  bravery,  of  the  best  training  under 
consummate  leaders,  amid  volleys  of  artillery,  showers  of  musket 
balls,  charges  of  cavalry  and  hand  to  hand  encounters  with  axe  and 
sword,  this  memorable  combat.  It  was  here  that  the  strife  was  most 
desperate,  and  its  issue  determined. 

At  the  hottest  moment  of  the  contest  an  English  gunner,  his 
powder  expended,  was  replenishing,  when  his  burning  fuse  exploded 
the  cask  and  two  more,  blowing  into  the  air  all  w^ho  stood  near. 
One  of  the  guns  battering  the  earth  work  burst,  scattering  havoc 
around  ;  another  fastened  in  the  marsh  baffled  all  efforts  to  disengage 
it.  The  fire  from  the  rest  galled  the  unprotected  ranks  of  the  catho- 
lics, whose  gunners  and  cavalry  were  powerless  against  its  ravages. 
In  time  the  breast-work  crumbled  down  to  the  plain.  Its  defenders 
driven  off,  two  royal  regiments  poured  in,  one  turning  against  O'Neil, 
the  other  against  O'Donnel,  who  commanded  the  left  wing,  some 
ranks  crossing  the  lines,  whilst  the  third  pushed  up  to  their  support. 
The  royal  cavalry  and  musketmen  rushed  upon  horse  and  foot  of  the 
catholics  driven  from  then-  entrenchments,  and  now  on  equal  ground 
in  close  conflict  the  fight  thickened,  muzzle  to  muzzle,  hand  to  hand, 
either  side  striving  to  dismount  and  overthrow  their  opponents.  The 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  537 

catholic  sj)earsnien  removed  from  the  fire  of  tlie  batteries,  observing 
that  the  guns  no  longer  of  use  had  been  abandoned,  took  possession 
of  them  and  turned  them  against  their  enemies. 

At  this  moment  Bagnal,  oppressed  by  cuirass  and  helm  which  were 
of  steel,  bullet  proof  and  of  great  weight,  believing  the  victory  won  and 
eager  to  breathe  more  freely,  raised  his  beaver  better  to  see  the  hap- 
py turn  of  the  contest,  and  fell  lifeless,  struck  in  the  brow  by  a  ball. 
Dismay  seized  the  third  column  which  he  led.  The  other  two  in  front, 
not  aware  of  what  had  chanced  fought  valiantly  on,  the  catholics  no 
less,  O'Donnel  with  his  musketmen,  the  Kinel  Owen  in  the  midst  of 
the  peril.  The  issue  hungiu  the  balance,  when  Tyrone  near  by  with 
forty  horsemen  and  as  many  gunners  ordered  the  latter  to  pour  in 
their  shot.  Thrown  into  confusion  by  this  attack  from  an  unexpect- 
ed quarter,  the  chief  with  his  cavalry  charged  into  the  midst  of  the 
royalists.  His  infantrj^,  raising  his  battle  cry,  with  overwhelming 
power  followed  the  paths  he  opened,  and  the  enemy  struck  with  panic 
wavered  and  fled.  It  was  then  an  hour  past  noon.  The  right 
wing  opposed  to  O'Donnel  witnessing  the  rout  and  likewise  demora- 
lized, turned  and  rushed  from  the  field. 

Montague  and  his  troopers  took  to  their  spurs,  the  musketeers  to 
their  heels.  O'Neil,  O'Donnel  and  Maguire  who  commanded  the 
catholic  cavalry  kept  close  to  their  backs,  Ditch  and  rampart  more 
in  their  way  than  when  advancing,  they  fell  one  over  the  other, 
trampled  upon  by  the  foot,  bruised  by  the  hoofs  of  the  horses.  The 
third  column,  saddened  at  the  loss  of  their  leader  and  dismayed  at 
the  general  rout,  had  no  help  to  render.  The  splendid  O'Reilly  ex- 
horted his  men  to  be  of  good  heart  and  fight  on,  it  being  more 
honorable  to  die  in  battle  than  be  slain  unavenged,  and  that  they 
might  possibly  not  only  sustain  the  attack  but  repel  it.  Emboldened 
by  his  words  his  young  kinsmen  renewed  the  combat,  their  commander 

ever  present  with  aid  to  the  hard  pushed  or  imperilled.     Abandoned 
68 


538  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

by  the  royalists,  hemmed  in  by  the  catholics,  they  all  fell  covered 
with  wounds,  the  fall  of  "Pulcher  "  himself  ending  the  battle. 

An  utter  rout,  straggling  over  the  plain,  among  the  junipers,  they 
were  slaughtered,  even  up  to  the  gates  of  Armagh.  Within  the  sa- 
cred walls  of  its  fortified  cathedral,  a  thousand  foot  soldiers  and  half  as 
many  troopers  at  last  found  refuge.  The  royalists  lost  twenty-five 
hundred  men,  their  general,  twenty-three  of  his  subordinates,  besides 
standard  bearers,  aids  and  adjutants,  and  thirty -four  military  stand- 
ards, drums,  cannon,  vast  quantities  of  arms,  twelve  thousand  pounds 
in  gold,  and  all  their  provision.  The  fight  was  not  bloodless  to  the 
victors,  two  hundred  being  killed,  thrice  as  many  wounded.  Armagh 
was  besieged.  Montague  breaking  out  at  night  with  his  cavalry, 
Terence  O'Hanlon  from  the  camp  of  Tyrone  pursued  him,  capturing 
his  bajTsage  train  and  two  hundred  of  his  horses,  killing  three  of  his 
officers.  Komley,  another,  smoking  his  pipe  of  tobacco  next  day  in 
a  thicket  not  far  from  the  road  was  caught  and  killed.  Armagh  and 
Portmore  after  three  days  surrendered  upon  terms.  The  garrisons 
were  set  free,  but  whether  from  the  almost  romantic  generosity  which 
marked  Tyrone  in  his  dealings  with  the  conquered,  prudence  in  case 
of  reverse,  or  to  conciliate  the  favor  of  the  queen,  will  be  differently 
interpreted  by  different  minds. 

It  was  a  glorious  triumph  for  the  cause  of  national  independence. 
The  chain  was  broken,  and  every  catholic,  every  Irishman  who  did 
not  wish  to  be  subjugated,  be  deprived  of  his  property  or  say  his 
prayers  at  other  men's  dictation,  felt  himself  free.  Tyrone,  cham- 
pion of  the  faith,  saviour  of  his  country,  not  Ulster  alone,  but  the 
nation  throughout  all  its  tribes  hailed  leader  and  king.  Dismay 
paralyzed  the  pale,  Ormond  shut  himself  up  in  Kilkenny,  adventurers 
and  undertakers  trembled  for  land  and  life.  Could  the  northern 
chiefs  have  improved  their  victory  and  marched  upon  the  capital,  for- 
eign domination  might  have  tottered  to  its  fall.  That  they  did  not, 
cannot  well  be  attributed  to  want  of  wisdom  or  courage.     The  re- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  539 

sources  of  England  were  unexhausted  as  the  next  two  years  proved. 
Bagnal's  field  pieces,  Armagh's  guns  would  have  been  powerless 
agauist  stone  walls.  Their  fallen  braves  were  not  to  be  swept  into 
cavities  in  the  earth  like  the  holocausts  of  despotism,  but  reverently 
laid  in  the  tombs  of  their  ancestors  with  dirge  and  rite.  Many  minds 
were  to  be  consulted,  preparations  made.  What  had  been  gained 
was  too  precious  to  risk  by  precipitate  measures,  and  such  moments  of 
exultation  in  their  perennial  resistance  to  superior  numbers,  wealth 
and  armaments,  too  rarely  vouchsafed  not  to  be  enjoyed. 

Our  historical  sympathies  lean  naturally  to  the  victors  who  were 
defending;  their  hearths  and  altars,  for  in  the  cause  of  human  rights 
and  independence  they  are  excusable  even  where  against  our  own 
countr3rmen  if  forging  fetters  for  the  free.  There  could  be  no  jus- 
tification for  the  attempt  to  reduce  Ulster  to  a  conquered  province. 
It  had  been  tried  and  signally  failed.  It  had  cost  vast  expenditures 
of  life  and  treasure,  and  now  except  the  trembling  garrisons  in  Dub- 
lin and  Cork,  Ireland  was  Irish.  Leinster  chiefs  levied  tribute 
under  the  walls  of  the  capital,  and  when  O'Moore  marched  into 
Desmond  the  southern  septs  with  (jreraldines,  Roches  and  Butlers 
rose  in  arms  and  joined  him  to  expel  the  intruders. 

Much  remained  to  be  accomplished  before  their  strength  would  be 
consolidated  and  in  condition  to  cope  with  English  power  now  lashed 
into  rage  and  resentment  by  reverses  deemed  not  only  disastrous,  but 
attended  with  disf^race.  The  two  great  leaders  of  the  north  were 
admirably  suited  to  the  conjuncture.  Owen  O'Moore,  Maguire  and 
O'Rourke,  Donal  Maccarthy,  Dermod  and  Donal  O'Sullivan,  Des- 
mond and  his  brother  John,  were  able  and  earnest  in  the  cause. 
Ulster,  menaced  from  without  but  not  much  endangered,  within  was 
of  one  mind.  Connaught  less  united,  with  Clifford  esteemed  and 
both  earls  loyal,  might  prove  in  the  crisis  portending  an  element  of 
weakness.  Its  charge  naturally  fell  to  Tyrconnel,  who  to  be  nearer 
his  work  bought  of  the  Macdonoghs  for  four  hundred  pounds  and 


540  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

three  hundred  cows  the  castle  of  Balliraotc,  south  of  Sligo,  Clifford 
the  governor  competing  for  its  purchase. 

Hardly  established  with  his  creaghts  about  him  in  his  new  abode 
he  raided  Theobald  of  the  ships,  and  after  Christmas  Clanrickard, 
carrying  home  unopposed  whatever  of  value  he  found.  In  February 
after  rallying  his  hosts  he  left  part  to  prey  such  septs  as  were  hostile 
at  the  north,  and  moved  silently  and  rapidly  with  the  rest  under 
O'Rourke,  Mag-uire,  MacSwenys,  Fanad  and  Banagh,  O'Dogherty 
and  O'Boyle,  to  Kilcolgan  in  Galway,  which  he  reached  at  daybreak. 
Having  rested  his  troops  during  the  day,  that  he  might  take  the 
country  by  surprise,  they  entered  Clare  at  midnight  in  detachments, 
Maguire  wasting  Inchiquin,  O'Donel  himself  proceeding  by  Kilnaboy 
to  Kilfenora,  directing  the  several  parties  to  join  him  on  his  homeward 
march  with  their  prey. 

Whilst  halting,  a  bard  of  the  Dalgais  who  had  been  plundered  of 
his  herds,  his  principal  belongings,  came  for  redress  to  his  tent,  ad- 
dressing him  as  the  chosen  agent  of  saint  Columbkille,  to  avenge 
the  destruction  five  centuries  before  of  Oileach,  the  home  of  his  royal 
progenitors,  by  Murrogh  grandson  of  Brian  Boru.  This  pleased  the 
chieftain  who  gave  him  his  cattle  back.  Not  much  of  Clare  suffered 
except  Inchiquin  and  Corcomroe,  the  latter  belonging  to  Torlogh  of 
Enystimmond,  son  of  Sir  Donald,  still  friendly  to  the  queen,  which 
many  other  O'Briens,  provoked  at  English  tenures  that  deprived 
them  of  their  lands  or  cut  off  their  reasonable  expectations,  were 
not.  Donoo'h  the  earl  had  been  in  England  since  the  Christmas 
conference  at  Dundalk  a  year  before  with  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  and 
lately  returned  was  with  Ormond  helping  him  in  Munster.  Besides 
his  early  education  in  England,  his  second  wife,  daughter  of  Gerald 
eleventh  earl  of  Kildare  and  Mabel  Brown,  attached  him  to  the  queen. 
But  he  was  not  a  mere  courtier,  his  efficiency  in  the  field  earned  him 
the  title  of  the  great  earl.  He  had  left  Thomond  in  charge  of  his 
brothers  Torlogh  and   Daniel,  sixty  years  later  created  first  viscount 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  541 

Clare,  but  another  brother  Tcague  was  then,  though  soon  after  to 
change,  in  league  with  O'Donnel.  When  the  earl  heard  of  the  raid 
to  whieh  his  dominions  had  been  subjected,  he  hastened  home.  Irri- 
tated that  Mac  Mahon  of  West  Corcavaskiu  his  subordinate  chief 
should  have  presumed  to  make  war  against  his  brothers  whom  he  liad 
left  in  his  place,  he  pLmted  ordnance  against  Carrigaholt,  one  of  his 
castles,  hanging  its  wardei'S  to  the  neighboring  trees,  and  reduced 
Dunmore  another  stronohohl  a  mile  off.  He  drove  out  the  garrisons 
from  Derryowen,  Cloone  and  Lessofin,  restoring  the  latter  to  Mac- 
namara,  Cloone  to  O'Grady. 


XLI. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
Its  climate  favorable  to  vegetation  and  soil  responsive  to  labor, 
even  Leix,  recovered  by  its  rightful  proprietors,  bloomed  like  a  gar- 
den. The  dozen  summers  since  the  Desmond  wars  wrought  changes 
farther  south  equally  marked.  CV)lonists  with  capital  constructed 
better  abodes  than  had  been  destroyed,  and  the  people  generally  re- 
sumed their  avocations.  Plenty  reigned  and  food  abundant  supplied 
their  own  needs,  whilst  many  from  Connaught  and  some  from  Leinster 
their  country  wasted  came  there  to  be  fed.  Had  Munster  possessed 
leaders  as  experienced  in  war  and  with  resources  as  great  as  the  two 
northern  chiefs,  Ireland  might  have  regained  her  independence. 
Donnal  son  of  Clancarrc,  bold  and  able,  had  at  command  no  revenues 
and  his  birth  worked  to  his  disadvantage.  With  Dermot  of  Duhallo 
his  comi)etitor  he  submitted  to  its  chiefs  his  claims  to  the  chieftainship 
of  Clancarthy,  and  was  inaugurated  Maccarthy  Mor.  James,  son  of 
Thomas  Ruagh  recently  deceased,  recognized  as  earl  of  Desmond  by 
Tyrone,  shared  with  him  the  lead.  Termed  the  sugan  or  straw 
earl  by  the  enemy,  this  new  Desmond  in  presence  and  bearing  noble 


542  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

as  in  character  and  disposition,  sensible  and  prudent  yet  brave  and 
daring,  might  liave  proved,  had  opportunity  allowed,  the  commander 
that  the  crisis  demanded.  Donnal,  too,  displayed  in  his  relations 
with  his  subordinates  as  later  at  court  in  London  the  shrewd  good 
sense  that  marked  his  military  movements. 

Fortunat(!ly  no  conflict  of  interest,  no  jealousy  divided  them,  and 
tlieir  united  forces  persuaded  or  compelled  such  cliiefs  as  were  not 
irrevocably  pledged  to  the  queen  to  become  their  tributaries  or  enter 
their  x'anks.  They  were  more  successful  with  O'Driscols  by  sea 
than  with  Donal  lord  of  Carbcrry  and  his  subordinate  lords  by  land. 
Ormond  had  followed  O'Moorc  with  three  thousand  men,  joining 
the  president  at  Kilmallock.  They  marched  together  into  Duhallo, 
but  proved  no  match  for  their  opponents  who  drove  them  to  Mallow. 
But  when  Owen  returned  to  the  north,  the  earl  anxious  for  his  pos- 
sessions also  hastened  home,  whilst  the  president  no  longer  assured 
of  his  safety  betook  himself  to  Cork. 

William  Burke  of  Castle  Connel  with  Thomas  Fitzgerald  reduced 
Molatif  held  by  Sir  Nicholas  Brown,  defeating  a  body  of  redcoats 
and  capturing  the  hunting  dogs  of  the  president,  who  having 
collected  twenty-five  hundred  men  was  marching  to  place  his  raw 
recruits  in  KilmaHock,  and  to  take  thence  the  veterans  for  service 
in  the  field.  Returning,  Desmond,.  Montgarret,  Cahir,  Purcell, 
Burke  and  Tyrrel,  about  equal  in  number,  drove  him  back  with  great 
loss,  eight  miles  to  that  place.  AVhen  they  disappeared  from  his 
front,  he  again  strove  to  reach  Cork,  and  occupied  Rochefort,  aban- 
doned by  lord  Fermoy  who  shut  himself  up  in  castle  Roche  near  by. 

The  catholics  not  far  off  hastened  to  help.  For  twelve  days  the 
two  armies  confronted  in  equal  strength,  skirmishing  with  varying 
success.  When  the  president  appeared  rather  disposed  to  retire  than 
advance,  the  catholics  moved  their  position  to  block  his  path.  Resolv- 
ing to  break  through,  he  assailed  their  cam[)s  before  daybreak  with 
cavalry   and  seven   hundred  matchlocks.      The  sleepers   rudely  dis- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  543 

tiirbcd,  Hed,  i)nnic  stricken,  Avlicn  l)iirkc  from  another  part  of  the 
camp  promptly  brought  aid,  and  the  fugitives  returning  to  their 
ranks  forced  the  assaikints  back  to  tlicir  lines.  The  next  day,  his 
baggage  sent  before,  the  president  proceeded  towards  Cork  pursued 
by  the  catholics,  Avho  slew  two  hundred  of  his  men  at  the  monastery 
of  ]Mona. 

Thomas,  another  of  the  Burkes,  not  long  after  reducing  the  strong- 
holds of  ]Muskcrry  Kurk,  the  president  who  lay  near  with  twelve 
hundred  horse  and  foot  on  his  way  to  Thomastown,  encountered  him 
at  Kittilly.  Burke  not  strong  enough  to  seek  a  batth'  would  have 
retired,  but  Xorris  not  content  that  he  should  escape  charged  their 
rear  ranks,  who  turned  upon  their  assailants  ;  and  ^lohn  Burke  hit  him 
through  his  visor  with  a  spear  of  which  the  point  stuck  in  his  head. 
The  Avounded  president  was  carried  to  the  splendid  abode  he  had 
erected  at  ]\Iallow,  and  there  died  on  the  twentieth  of  June,  fifteen 
days  after  the  battle.  Dermot  O'Connor  marauding  the  baron  of 
Castle  Connel  and  hemmed  in  by  three  himdred  of  his  dependents 
and  as  many  royalists  from  Limerick,  rushed  upon  them  and  put  thcni 
to  rout,  slaying  their  leaders  the  l)aron  and  his  brother. 

English  settlers,  dismayed  at  this  general  disaffection  and  left 
•unprotected,  abandoned  their  estates  and  took  refuge  in  the  walled 
towns  or  fell  victims  to  tlie  resentment  of  the  catholics  who  ransacked 
or  demolished  their  dwedings,  burnt  their  crops  and  swept  off  such 
quantities  of  horses  and  cattle,  that  a  cow  in  calf  sold  for  sixpence, 
a  brood  mare  for  three.  "In  the  course  of  seventeen  days  they  left 
not  within  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  country  of  the  Geraldincs, 
from  Dunqueen  to  the  ISuir,  Avhich  the  Saxons  had  well  filled  with 
habitations  and  various  wealth,  a  single  son  of  a  Saxon  whom  they 
did  not  either  kill  or  expel.  Nor  did  they  leave  a  single  head  resi- 
dence, castle  or  one  sod  of  Geraldine  territory,  Avhich  they  did  not 
put  in  possession  of  the  earl  of  Desmond,  except  Castlemagne,  Askea- 
ton  and  Mallow." 


544  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

His  genius  did  not  save  Edmund  Spenser  from  grief.  For  ten 
years  he  had  been  quietly  possessed  of  Kilcolman  and  his  three 
thousand  acres,  near  Mallow  on  the  Mulla.  His  castle  burnt  and 
one  of  his  children  perishing  in  the  flames,  he  escaped  with  the  other 
and  some  few  of  his  manuscripts,  to  die  in  London  impoverished  and 
broken-hearted  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  the  new  year  at  the  early  age 
of  forty-five.  His  abode  at  the  north  side  of  a  beautiful  sheet  of 
water  abounding  in  fish  and  the  resort  of  water  fowl ,  was  surrounded 
by  mountains  commanding  a  view  of  half  the  breadth  of  the  island. 
Near  by  flowed  the  Mulla,  bathing  as  it  went  the  castle  walls  of 
Butte vant,  Doneraile  and  Roche,  falling  into  the  Blackwatei-  at 
Bridgetown.  St.  Legers,  Norrises  and  Roches  were  thus  his  neigh- 
bors, and  his  position  as  clerk  of  Munster  and  of  its  council  board, 
brought  him  into  intimate  and  pleasant  relations  with  all  its  officials. 
Whether  his  great  poem,  portions  of  which  were  published  in  1591, 
was  ever  completed  is  unknown  ;  but  quite  probably  it  was  still  en- 
gaging his  attention.  His  view  of  Ireland  had  been  recently  written, 
and  escaped  destruction,  possibly  from  its  having  been  sent  to  court,  as 
its  recommendations  shaped  the  policy  immediately  afterwards  adopted. 
Sir  James  Ware,  into  whose  possession  it  fell,  published  it  in  1633. 

In  this  work,  which  deserves  the  study  of  both  races  whenever  sim- 
ilar questions  are  under  discussion,  he  was  cautious  not  to  offend 
English  prejudice  or  thwart  English  plans.  Conclusions  often  at  vari- 
ance with  good  judgment,  justice  and  humanity  from  such  a  source 
must  create  suspicion,  and  charity  suggests  that  he  means  the  oppo- 
site of  what  he  says,  and  that  a  vein  of  sarcasm  lurked  beneath  his 
exaggerations.  He  inveighs  in  no  measured  terms  against  all  Irish 
institutions,  tanistry,  erics,  the  whole  brehon  law  as  an  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  English  supremacy,  and  especially  against  the  doctrine, 
that  no  chief  could  bind  his  sept  beyond  his  own  lifetime.  Juries 
composed  of  natives  would  not  render  verdicts  in  favor  of  the  crown 
or  its  subjects.     Yet  if  consisting  exclusively  of  strangers  there  would 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  545 

have  been  clamor  against  partiality  and  injustice.  When  evidence 
in  court  was  shown  to  be  false  the  orders  of  their  chiefs  were  urged 
as  sufficient  justification.  But  such  abuses  were  confined  to  neither 
race.  Tipperary  under  Ormond  was  privileged  ground  for  depreda- 
tors, a  receptacle  of  stolen  goods.  Obsolete  laws  capriciously  enforced 
made  saffron  shirts,  hair  on  the  upper  lip,  gilt  bridles,  coin  and  livery 
felony,  and  landlord  or  traveller  accepting  meat  or  horse  bait  liable 
to  prosecution  upon  complaint  of  any  hostile  informer. 

Their  property  consisting  of  cattle,  herdsmen  pastured  on  the 
mountains,  and  their  booths  or  huts  the  refuge  of  malefactors,  they 
themselves  became  demoralized,  setting  authority  at  defiance.  Their 
mantles  served  as  fitting  home  for  an  outlaw,  meet  bed  for  a  rebel, 
apt  cloak  for  a  thief,  his  pent  house  in  rain,  his  tent  against  the  wind, 
his  tabernacle  when  it  was  freezing.  Never  heavy  or  cumbersome, 
it  could  be  worn  loose  in  summer  or  wrapt  close  in  winter,  his  screen 
from  the  gnats,  buckler  against  sword  or  spear.  It  concealed  his 
weapons  and  liis  plunder  as  also  himself  from  observation,  which  latter 
purpose  the  glibbes  also  served.  From  strangers  was  acquired  taste 
for  bright  colors,  and  horsemen  and  galloglasses  learned  from  them  to 
use  saddles,  coats  of  mail  to  the  calf  of  the  leg  and  heavy  axes.  Their 
kernes,  valiant  and  hardy,  bore  without  murmur  cold,  labor,  hunger 
and  every  hardship.  They  were  active  and  strong  of  hand,  swift  of 
foot,  vigilant  and  circumspect  in  enterprise,  undaunted  in  danger, 
scornful  of  death.  When  abroad  and  disciplined  and  put  to  musket 
or  pike,  soldiers  of  no  other  nation  surpassed  them  in  efficiency. 

Spenser  shows  little  sympathy  for  his  fellow  craftsmen,  the  poets, 
whose  profession  being  to  set  forth  praise  or  honor,  none  dared  to 
displease  them  since  their  verses  and  songs  formed  part  of  festal  en- 
tertainments. Their  teaching  he  says  was  not  edifying.  They  glorified 
deeds  of  daring  and  rebellion,  whatever  worked  prejudice  against 
government  or  tended  to  throw  off  its  thraldom,  inciting  the  young 

not  to  eat  meat  unless  won  by  the  sword,  to  prefer  night  to  day,  to 
69 


546  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

light  their  way  by  the  flames  of  other  men's  houses,  not  to  woo  by 
harp  or  lay  but  by  violence,  by  the  lamentation  of  the  aggrieved,  by 
clash  of  steel,  and  when  dying  their  natural  death  of  the  battle-field, 
"  not  to  be  bewailed  by  many,  but  to  make  many  wail  that  dearly 
bought  their  death." 

Chiefs  maintained  numerous  idlemen,  horse  boys  and  armor  bearers  ; 
even  the  foot  soldiers  had  lads  to  carry  their  arms.  No  inns  or 
hostlers  existing  on  the  road,  these  lads  grew  up  to  knavery,  and 
when  employed  by  Englishmen  learned  the  use  of  fire  arms.  Car- 
roghs  roamed  from  house  to  house  living  by  cards  and  dice,  gesters 
by  their  welcome  news.  Cess  was  the  pest  of  husbandry.  Soldiers 
quartered  on  the  villagers  quarrelled  with  their  food,  exacting  better 
and  consumed  whatever  they  found,  and  the  government  tables  and 
garrisons  exhausted  everything  within  reach.  Annual  leases  led  to 
rack  rent  to  the  disadvantage  of  both  landlord  and  tenant  and  dis- 
couraging all  improvements  people  dwelt  in  squalid  destitution. 
Catholic  priests  imitating  protestants  took  tithe  and  offerings,  but 
neither  preached  nor  administered  sacraments.  In  the  English  fold 
gross  simony,  greedy  covetousness,  sloth  and  disorderly  life  pre- 
vailed, and  the  example  was  contagious. 

Officers  and  soldiers,  even  governors,  were  loath  to  end  the  war, 
lest  they  should  lose  their  pay.  They  would  occasionally  cut  off  the 
head  of  an  enemy  to  please  some  rival,  and  send  it  to  the  capital  in 
proof  of  their  zeal.  Governors  would  not  suppress  evil  for  fear  of 
reproach,  or  lest  if  creating  disturbance  their  successors  by  suppress- 
ing it  might  gain  praise  to  their  prejudice.  Envy  and  jealousy 
were  the  bane  of  administration.  No  steady  policy,  each  new  dep- 
uty adopted  the  opposite  of  his  predecessor.  Abuses  were  smothered 
up,  no  one  caring  what  came  afterwards.  The  remedy  recommended 
was  the  sword,  a  powerful  army  in  strong  garrisons,  to  nip  in  the  bud 
disaffection,  paid  and  fed  by  government,  operating  in  winter,  de- 
stroying the  resources  of  the  people,  exterminating  all  who  did  not 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  547 

submit,  and  if  they  did,  sending  them  away  from  their  homes  into 
the  interior. 

This  pohcy  of  destruction  and  extermination  had  worked  well  in 
Munster,  a  beautiful  country  stored  with  goodly  rivers  full  of  fish, 
pleasant  islands,  lakes  like  inland  seas,  woods  for  building  houses 
and  ships  ;  if  some  princes  had  them  they  would  be  lords  of  the 
world  ;  ports  and  havens  inviting  traffic  for  their  excellent  com- 
modities, the  fertile  soil  being  fit  to  yield  all  kinds  of  fruit  commit- 
ted thereunto  and  the  climate  moist,  mild  and  temperate.  The  clans 
he  would  banish  from  their  lands  which  he  would  have  given  to 
Englishmen,  who  might  retain  a  convenient  number  of  natives  for 
their  cultivation.  Corporate  towns  should  be  multiplied  as  a  check 
upon  insurrection. 

Once  subdued,  and  ten  thousand  men  distributed  in  garrisons 
over  the  land  with  magazines  well  filled,  fifty  thousand  pounds  should 
be  levied  in  rent  or  tax  for  their  support  out  of  that  number  of 
ploughlands.  The  two  races  should  be  intermingled,  the  refractory 
transported  into  Ulster.  The  old  Saxon  tything-men  revived  should 
be  responsible  each  for  his  hundred,  who  at  stated  times  should 
report  themselves.  Younger  sons  ndw  left  to  seek  their  fortunes 
must  be  kept  in  check  and  put  to  employments,  the  rich  and  powerful 
giving  pledge  and  being  sworn  to  obedience.  He  recommended  a 
general  inquest  to  ascertain  land  titles,  the  disloyal  to  be  deprived. 
Old  names,  O's  and  Macs,  should  be  abandoned,  and  others  assumed 
from  employments  or  personal  peculiarities.  Idlers  were  to  be  put 
to  trades,  manual,  intellectual  or  mixed. 

Capable  protestant  clergymen  were  needed  to  preach  and  teach,  like 
the  zealots  from  Rome  and  Spain.  Churches  should  be  rebuilt, 
schools  instituted ,  bridges  supersede  fords  ;  roads  one  hundred  yards  in 
width  be  cut  through  the  forests  and  provided  with  inns.  Market  towns 
w^hich  furthered  civility  by  more  frequent  intercourse  ought  to  be  es- 
tablished, and  cattle  marked  to  detect  and  discourage  raids.     Lord 


548  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

lieutenants  with  the  council  should  have  power  unrestrained,  and 
rather  imitate  the  sternness  of  Grey  with  whom  he  had  come  into 
Ireland  as  secretary,  and  whom  he  defends  from  reproach,  than  Per- 
rot  who  befriended  chiefs  and  slighted  his  own  countrymen.  But 
the  crying  evil  of  administration  was  the  universal  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption which  should  be  reformed.  From  the  numerous  reports 
upon  the  country  in  public  archives  of  similar  import,  this  view  of 
the  poet  may  have  well  been  prepared  to  enlighten  the  government 
at  home,  and  bome  of  its  suggestions  were  speedily  improved  upon 
and  carried  out. 


XLII. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
Her  armies  annihilated,  her  ablest  commanders  defeated  and  slain, 
England  determined  to  crush  the  catholics  with  whatever  power  she 
possessed.  Bingham  restored  to  grace  was  despatched  as  marshal 
to  Dublin,  where  he  died  in  a  month,  and  then  Sir  Samuel  Bagnal 
with  two  thousand  men  intended  for  Lough  Foyle,  but  who  landing 
at  Dungarvan,  reached  the  pale  reduced  in  numbers  by  skirmishes 
on  the  route.  Elizabeth  had  selected  for  deputy  Charles  Blount, 
who  like  Raleigh  had  qualities  to  win  her  favor.  But  Robert  Dev- 
reux  earl  of  Essex,  later  brother-in-law  of  Blount  and  already  uncle 
of  his  children,  persuaded  the  queen  that  he  had  neither  the  means 
nor  experience  for  the  charge.  This  he  secured  for  himself,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  rivals  who  rejoiced  at  his  removal  from  court.  Sir 
Francis  Bacon  his  fi'iend  wrote  out  considerations  for  liis  government, 
counselling  toleration  for  a  time  not  definite,  English  colonization, 
and  measures  to  cut  off  hopes  of  foreign  succor  as  well  as  for 
fomenting  feuds  in  order  to  divide  and  conquer. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  549 

Essex,  as  viceroy,  left  London  towai-cls  tlie  end  of  March,  1599, 
with  twenty  thousand  men,  to  which  were  added  at  his  request,  upon 
his  departure,  two  regiments  of  veterans.  Arriving  at  Dublin  he 
seemed  about  to  invade  Ulster  where  O'Neil  with  Tyrconnel  ready 
to  aid  stood  prepared  to  receive  him,  but  contrary  to  expectation, 
wdtli  seven  thousand  men  and  nine  hundred  horse  started  for  Munster. 
Traversing  Leix,  Owen  O'^Ioore  with  five  hundred  foot  assailed  his 
rear,  killing  many  and  taking  much  spoil  in  a  defile,  since,  from  the 
feathers  which  adorned  the  dismayed  royalists,  and  Avhich  were  scat- 
tered over  the  scene  of  their  disaster,  known  as  the  Pass  of  Plumes. 
Essex  laid  siege  to  Cahir,  Desmond,  Leitrim  and  his  brother  AVil- 
liam  contriving  to  drive  away  Vinkle  from  the  bridge  leading  to  its 
gates  and  reinforce  the  garrison  by  fifty  men.  The  walls  at  last  shat- 
tered by  artillery,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Desmond  to  embarrass 
the  besiegers,  James  Butler  who  was  in  command  sallied  out  with  his 
troops  and  effected  his  escape.  Essex  went  on  to  Limerick  and  thence 
to  Askeaton  to  reinforce  its  ward. 

On  his  march  with  this  design,  Desmond  and  Doual  Maccarthy 
with  five  thousand  men  endeavored  to  block  his  progress.  William 
Burke  and  Dermot  O'Conor  were  posted  on  the  plain,  Walter  Tyr- 
rell and  Thomas  Plunket  in  the  pass,  through  which  his  way  laid. 
The  plan  to  surround  the  royalists  as  directed  by  Lacy  was  discon- 
certed by  Plunket  disobeying  orders,  a  charge  he  however  denied. 
Essex  led  his  army  in  four  bodies  under  Thomond,  Clanrickard  and 
MacPhieris,  passing  Burke  and  O'Conor  unopposed  by  them  as  ar- 
ranged, and  then  into  the  open  plain  by  Tyrrell  and  Plunket,  who  also 
allowed  him  to  pass  unmolested.  O'Connor  astounded  at  what  seemed 
treachery  in  Plunket  attacked  the  enemy,  but  forced  to  yield 
ground  joined  Burke,  and  at  Rosver  in  Adare  for  three  hours  they 
continued  the  combat,  doing  less  damage  to  the  foe  now  out  of  the 
pass  where  they  might  have  been  checked. 

Essex  effected  his  purpose  in  strengthening  Askeaton,  the  catholics 


550  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

making  a  nocturnal  attack  upon  his  camp  but  without  result.  Mon- 
day on  his  march  south  they  attacked  him  at  Finita  along  his  whole  line, 
Henry  brother  of  the  late  president  being  slain  as  also  many  more 
of  tlie  royalists,  and  some  of  the  catholics.  The  battle  lasted  eight 
hours,  till  five  in  the  afternoon,  when  Essex  reached  Croom.  For 
six  subsequent  days  all  the  way  to  Decies  Desmond  followed  Essex 
constantly  skirmishing  and  thinning  his  ranks.  Reaching  Dublin  at 
the  end  of  July,  "his  soldiers  wearied,  sickly  and  their  numbers 
more  than  a  man  can  believe  diminished,"  the  lord  lieutenant  was  mor- 
tified to  find  that  six  hundred  of  his  troops  left  to  watch  the  O'Byrnes 
had  during  his  absence  been  routed  with  terrible  carnage.  Fretting 
over  these  repeated  disasters,  aggravated  by  the  recapture  of  Cahir, 
he  court-martialled  the  officers,  decimating  the  surviving  soldiers  of 
the  detachment  for  not  succeeding  better  then  he  had  himself. 

In  explanation  of  his  mischance  he  wrote  the  queen  that  the  Irish 
troops  were  more  powerful  and  better  disciplined  than  her  own, 
stronger  in  body  and  more  perfect  in  the  use  of  arms.  He  advised 
that  the  priests  should  be  hunted  down  ;  Bacon's  policy  of  fomenting 
dissensions  adopted ;  coasts  be  guarded,  garrisons  planted  and  the 
country  laid  waste.  An  invasion  of  Leix  and  Offaly  without  success, 
though  Morrison  says  he  brake  them  with  ease,  still  further  dimin- 
ished his  numbers,  and  requesting  reinforcements  that  he  might  pro- 
ceed into  Ulster  another  thousand  were  sent. 

Preparing  to  march  north,  he  had  ordered  Clifford  to  occupy  and 
rebuild  Sligo,  to  hold  in  check  O'Donnel,  whom  Donogh  O'Conor 
strove  to  persuade  the  chiefs  of  Connaught  to  desert.  O'Donnel  too 
much  for  him  drove  him  with  some  loss  into  Colloony,  where  besieged 
he  held  out  for  forty  days,  but  was  about  from  famine  to  surrender, 
when  the  governor  hastened  his  movements  on  Sligo  to  relieve 
him.  He  ordered  Theobald  Burke  of  the  ships  to  carry  by  water 
from  Galway,  food,  guns,  lime  and  other  material  for  the  w^orks, 
whilst  he  marched   by   land.      O'Donnel    apprised  of  his    design 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  551 

left  four  liuiulred  of  his  foot  under  Mac  Sweeny  Fanad  and  Mac 
William  in  charge  of  Sligo,  O'Boyle  with  two  hundred  horse  to 
prosecute  the  siege  of  Colloony,  O'Doherty  to  occupy  the  Corlew 
mountain  over  which  Clifford  must  come.  In  one  of  its  passes  nar- 
row and  obstructed,  he  posted  three  bands  in  ambuscade  to  check  the 
foe  in  theii'  advance,  in  another  more  open,  O'Doherty  and  himself  with 
two  thousand  foot  that  had  never  known  defeat,  spread  their  tents. 
Theobald  of  the  ships  with  twenty  vessels  reached  Sligo,  but  not 
daring  to  land  awaited  the  arrival  of  Clifford,  who  with  an  equal  force 
of  chosen  troops  and  three  squadron  of  horse,  with  O'Conor  Don, 
Mac  Sweeny  Tuath  still  irate  with  O'Donnel,  and  lord  Dunkellin  son 
of  Clanrickard,  with  thirty-nine  banners,  three  of  them  hurse,  march- 
ed from  Athlone  to  Boyle. 

O'Donnel  at  Ballyboy,  who  had  amused  himself  while  waiting  his 
approach,  in  chasing  the  stag,  ordered  trees  to  be  felled  in  the  way 
as  an  obstacle  for  the  foe  and  protection  for  himself,  and  selecting 
that  for  his  battle  field,  encamped  a  mile  beyond.  The  day  before, 
the  eve  of  the  assumption,  had  been  passed  in  confession,  ftisting  and 
prayer,  and  in  the  morning  which  was  cloudy  and  wet  the  sacrament 
was  administered.  Under  the  impression  that  the  enemy  would  not 
advance  in  the  rain,  he  kept  quiet,  whilst  Mac  Sweeny,  concluding  that 
he  would  not  leave  the  shelter  of  his  tents  of  skin  in  such  weather, 
persuaded  Clifford  to  push  on.  The  governor  had  left  his  horse  un- 
der Sir  Griffin  Markham  at  Boyle,  as  of  no  use  on  the  mountains, 
and  with  his  foot  alone  took  possession  of  the  unguarded  pass. 
Scarcely  had  the  sacred  rite  ended,  when  scouts  came  in  to  report  to 
O'Donnel  that  the  enemy  had  already  passed  the  fallen  trees.  Order- 
ing his  army  to  take  their  food  the  better  to  fight,  he  reminded  them 
that  by  the  help  of  the  mother  of  God  they  had  ever  conquered  the 
heretic,  how  much  more  noAv  since  in  her  honor  they  had  passed  the 
previous  day  in  fasting  and  that  were  celebrating  her  feast.  In  her 
honor  they  should  fight  with  her  enemies,  and  by  her  help  again  they 
would  triumph. 


552  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

With  these  words  his  soldiers  kindlin^jj  with  renewed  ardor  for  the 
coming  conflict,  he  despatched  Owen  Mac  Sweeny  Tuath  and  the 
O'Gallaghers  to  check  the  advance  of  the  royalists,  till  he  should 
come  up  with  the  spearsmen.  The  enemy  ascended  the  hill  out  of 
the  pass  on  to  even  ground,  when  the  rain  ceasing  the  musketeers 
were  hastened  up  by  O'Donnel.  There  on  equal  footing  in  a  hand 
to  hand  encounter,  between  combatants  in  the  fire  of  youth,  midst 
showers  of  balls,  wounds  were  given  and  received.  The  musket- 
men  of  Tyrconnel  were  giving  way,  when  their  leaders  reproached 
them  for  not  doing  their  duty,  or  fighting  as  should  the  warriors 
of  tiie  virgin  mother.      Shame  forced  them  back  to  the  battle. 

With  incredible  courage,  with  the  utmost  constancy  and  skill, 
the  infjintry  fought  on  both  sides  with  their  firelocks.  The  royalists 
driven  back  on  to  the  spearmen  overwhelmed  by  a  stream  of  bullets, 
wounded,  surrounded  in  front  and  flank,  thrice  turned  in  a  circle,  at 
a  loss  which  way  they  should  go.  O'Rourke  to  complete  their  con- 
fusion brought  up  nine  score  fresh  men  to  the  catholics,  and  as  they 
came  in  sight  the  whole  army  of  royalists  turned  and  fled,  strewing 
the  field  with  their  arms,  the  catholics  in  pursuit.  O'Donnel  has- 
tening up  with  his  spearsmen  came  late  to  the  fight,  and  the  devout 
historian,  whose  account  we  render  from  the  latin,  adds  that  had  not 
Heaven  helped,  the  royalists  would  not  have  been  beaten. 

Clifford  beguiled  by  two  Irish  soldiers  to  whom  he  promised  large 
reward  for  his  safety,  was  pierced  through  the  side  with  a  lance, 
and  Dunkellin  barely  escaped.  The  felled  trees  and  obstructed  pass, 
where  they  had  left  a  portion  of  their  arms  and  garments,  embar- 
rassed the  fugitives.  Half  a  mile  from  Boyle,  Mai'kham  with  his  horse 
met  the  routed  army,  driving  off  their  pursuers,  who  were  chasing 
them  in  disorder,  killing  as  they  went.  O'Rourke  rallied  the  catho- 
lics, restored  their  array  and  becoming  the  assailant,  Markham 
wounded  in  the  hand  and  thigh  ordered  a  retreat,  the  foe  in  hot  chase 
hunting  them  to  Boyle.     There   perished  of  the  royalists,  besides 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  553 

Clifford  and  his  kinsman  Henry  Eadcliff,  fourteen  hundred  of  his 
men,  nearly  all  English  or  of  English  race  from  Meath.  The  troops 
of  Connaught  familiar  with  the  country  effected  their  retreat.  Arms 
were  lost,  and  standards,  drums,  baggage  and  many  garments. 
O'Neil  on  his  way  to  help  the  Kinelconnel  was  two  days' journey  off. 
Theobald  of  the  ships,  learning  the  death  of  Clifford,  sailed  back  to 
Galway.  O'Connor  submitted  at  discretion  ;  O'Donnel  restored  his 
principality  of  Sligo,  loading  him  with  gifts  but  binding  him  by  oatli 
never  afterwards  to  aid  the  protestants. 

"When  at  last  as  August  ended  Essex  approached  O'Neil,  that  chief 
appeared  in  force  and  sent  O'Hagan  to  propose  a  conference.  Essex 
answered  that  he  would  meet  him  the  next  day  in  battle  array,  and 
after  some  slight  skirmishes  with  horse  and  musketry,  a  parley  took 
place.  At  Anagelart  then  Ballyclinch  on  the  Lagan,  O'Neil  rode 
into  the  river,  the  viceroy  remaining  on  the  opposite  bank.  For  an 
hour  or  more  in  conversation  too  confidential  with  an  enemy,  Essex 
betrayed  his  schemes  and  his  pretensions.  They  parted  to  meet  again 
on  the  eighth  of  September,  each  of  them  accompanied  by  six  of 
his  officers,  when  a  truce  was  agreed  upon  tiQ  May  unless  terminat- 
ed by  either  side  upon  fourteen  days  notice.  Freedom  of  religion, 
from  interference  in  other  affairs,  restitution  of  lands,  officials  natives, 
half  the  army  Irishmen,  the  terms  demanded  as  preliminaries  to 
negotiation  by  Tyrone,  the  viceroy  thought  sufficiently  reasonable, 
and  promised  to  use  his  influence  to  obtain. 

And  what  better  could  he  do.  But  four  thousand  of  all  his  grand 
army  left,  many  of  these  deserted  when  ordered  north.  Ulster 
alone  had  six  thousand  shot  and  fifteen  hundred  horse  ;  Leinster  and 
Meath,  twenty-five  hundred  men ;  Munster,  fifty-three  hundred ; 
Connaught,  three  thousand ;  a  force  of  nearly  eighteen  thousand 
warriors,  to  which  the  lords  of  the  isles  threatened  to  add  two  or 
three  thousand  more.  English  soldiers  for  the  most  part  raw  re- 
cruits, unwonted  to  cold  and  wet,  poorly  clad  and  ill  fed,  if  better 
70 


554  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

armed  were  less  expert  in  the  use  of  their  weapons.  Some  of  the 
bands  were  filled  up  with  Irishmen,  in  others  often  a  third.  They 
carried  off  the  guns  given  them  to  hill  their  countrymen,  more  of 
which  they  purchased  from  the  faithless  followers  of  the  camp. 
Essex  had  shown  military  genius  at  Cadiz.  Realizing  that  numbers 
without  discipline  did  not  make  an  army  efficient,  he  yet  felt  obliged 
to  conceal  his  weakness.  Clifford  slain  and  his  army  annihilated, 
had  O'Neil  gained  another  victory  English  rule  would  have  been 
at  an  end.  That  the  chieftain  also  inclined  to  peace  may  be  attributed 
to  the  Kinelconnel  being  still  engaged  in  Connaught,  and  a  more 
favorable  conjuncture  anticipated,  which  never  came. 

The  queen  nevertheless  in  her  vexation  with  Essex,  little  disposed  to 
make  allowances  and  provoked  at  his  course,  expressed  her  displeasure 
in  able  but  bitter  phrase.  Trusting  to  his  hold  upon  her  affections  and 
to  her  sign  manual  when  appointed  authorizing  him  to  return  to 
her  presence  should  he  have  cause,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  Septem- 
ber, delegating  his  post  to  Loftus  and  Carew,  he  hastened  to  court, 
and  to  the  morning  toilet  of  his  ancient  queen ,  who  received  him  with 
tenderness,  but  on  second  thought  put  him  under  arrest.  After  a  hear- 
ing in  June  before  eighteen  commissioners.  Bacon  not  proving  a 
judicious  friend  if  an  honest  one,  he  was  convicted  of  the  charges,  and 
escaping  to  stir  up  a  crazy  rebellion,  another  tribunal  showed  him  no 
mercy,  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  February,  1601,  he  perished  on 
the  scaffold. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  ^55 


XLin. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
Prejudice  is  the  besetting  sin  of  historians.  Persistent  misrepresen- 
tation by  modern  writers  of  events  at  this  period  and  of  the  motives 
which  brought  them  about,  can  only  be  explained  by  the  many  im- 
portant links  that  connect  the  present  with  the  past.  It  cannot 
however  be  doubted  that  candor  would  prove  the  better  policy  to 
avert  discontents  at  times  seriously  threatening  public  stability.  No 
Englishman  deserves  the  name  who  thinks  less  well  of  the  northern 
chiefs  for  aiming  at  religious  liberty  or  national  independence. 
Their  measures  were  prudent,  their  courage  heroic,  and  if  striving 
with  inadequate  means  to  compass  laudable  ends,  imperial  consolida- 
tion is  not  helped  by  futile  efforts  to  tarnish  their  fame.  So  long  as 
the  truth  is  systematically  kept  out  of  view  or  intelligent  minds 
disincline  to  understand  and  admit  it,  neither  danger  nor  just  ground 
for  solicitude  grows  less. 

The  imprisonment  of  Essex  was  not  encouraging  for  any  peaceable 
solution  of  affairs,  and  Tyrone  in  November  issued  an  able  appeal 
to  his  countrymen  to  unite  in  defence  of  their  faith.  Philip  III.  now 
king  of  Spain  sent  assurances  of  aid.  When  the  government  of  the 
pale  alarmed  at  rumors  afloat,  demanded  explanation  of  his  prepara- 
tions for  war  and  other  courses  creating  suspicion,  Tyrone  for 
answer  gave  notice  that  the  truce  was  at  an  end.  He  informed 
Dermot  O'Conor  who  visited  him  in  December  of  his  intention  to 
repair  to  Holy  Cross  near  Thurles  in  Tipperary,  and  leaving  hia 
country  well  guarded  he  started  as  the  new  year  opened  with  three 
thousand  men  on  this  pilgrimage.  He  wasted  as  he  went  Delvin,  the 
baron  submitting,  and  also  the  possessions  of  Dillon,  and  passing  by 
the  gates  of  Athlone,  encamped  nine  days  at  Fircall.  After  ravag- 
ing Ely   to  punish  O'Carrol  for  slaying  some  j\Iac  Mahons  in  his 


556  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

service ,  he  visited  the  venerable  abbey,  still  much  of  it  remaining, 
and  which  for  five  centuries  had  been  the  repository  of  a  fragment  of 
the  true  cross  sent  by  Paschal  II.  to  its  founder. 

Recently  Baranova  had  brought  him  from  Spain  substantial  aid  and 
friendly  promisee,  perhaps  the  phoenix  plume  sent  by  Clement  VIII. 
in  recognition  of  his  regal  claims,  to  be  followed  up  in  April  by  a  papal 
bull  in  confirmation,  and  the  following  year  by  pardons  and  indul- 
gences and  twenty-two  thousand  pieces  of  gold  by  Cerda  to  pay 
his  soldiers.  Had  the  country  boldly  proclaimed  him  king  at  Holy- 
cross,  it  might  have  slipped  its  yoke.  But  English  catholics  shrank 
from  Irish  rule,  Irish  chiefs  from  subordination  to  any  one  of  their  own 
number.  They  had  some  years  before  entered  into  a  league  of  which 
Tyrone  as  acknowledged  head  corresponded  with  the  disaffected.  They 
had  bound  themselves  never  to  make  peace  or  war  with  the  English 
unless  all  its  members  were  included.  No  chief  was  to  imperil  the 
cause  by  standing  out  when  the  rest  had  submitted,  or  to  expose 
himself  to  danger,  by  presuming  out  of  any  pride  or  presumption 
to  spend  himself  in  his  own  quarrel.  These  covenants  had  been 
acted  upon  with  much  consistency  of  purpose  and  consolidated  re- 
sistance, but  had  failed  to  conquer  an  invincible  repugnance  to  one 
man  power.  Tyrone,  qualified  for  an  authority  needed  as  he  knew 
by  the  country,  bore  patiently  his  disappointment. 

Moving  south  leisurely,  he  spent  part  of  February  among  the 
O'Dwyers  and  friendly  Butlers,  Ormond  and  Thomond  threatening 
but  keeping  aloof.  Here  James,  his  earl  of  Desmond,  joined  him 
and  they  proceeded  together  by  the  cromlech  of  Oliol  Olum,  near 
Gilbally  in  Limerick,  through  Clangibbon  and  Fermoy,  wasting 
Barry  who  in  the  correspondence  that  ensued  reminded  Tyrone  of  his 
English  descent,  and  that  his  allegiance  was  due  to  the  crown. 
Crossing  the  Lee  they  pitched  their  camp  between  that  river  and  the 
Bandon,  at'  Inniscartha,  and  there  remained  for  twenty  days. 
Thither  came  Donal  Mac  Cartliy  More  and  his  competitor  for  land 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  557 

and  rule,  and  also  many  more  of  that  name,  but  not  Cormac  lord  of 
Muskerry.  Donal  had  lost  power,  and  Florence  substituted  by  the 
sept  through  the  influence  of  O'Sullivan  Mor  in  his  stead,  was  duly 
installed  in  his  office  and  recognized  by  Tyrone.  O'Donoghues  and 
other  chieftains  of  the  south  attended  or  sent  gifts. 

Maguire,  while  foraging  towards  Kinsale,  accompanied  by  two  of 
his  attendants  and  his  chaplain,  met  accidentally  or  was  waylaid  by 
Sir  Warham  St.  Leger  with  sixty  horse.  Between  them,  besides 
public  grounds  of  hostility,  existed  a  rivalry,  each  being  respectively 
regarded  by  his  own  people  as  their  especial  champion  for  valor  and 
skill.  The  chief  of  Fermanagh  did  not  consider  it  consistent  with 
his  dignity  to  fly  or  to  surrender,  and  putting  spurs  to  his  steed  rushed 
upon  St.  Leger  who  shot  him  with  a  pistol  as  he  approached,  and 
who  was  himself  pierced  through  the  casque  by  the  spear  of  Maguire, 
which  nearly  severed  his  head.  The  chief,  though  his  companions 
were  also  wounded,  leaving  his  sjjear  in  the  body  of  his  antagonist, 
turned  and  cutting  his  way  with  his  sword  through  the  enemy,  es- 
caped to  die  as  he  reached  the  camp.  Warham  survived  fifteen 
days.  O'l^'Ieil  grieving  for  the  loss  of  his  best  and  bravest  officer, 
took  pledges  from  the  southern  chiefs,  promising  soon  to  return,  and 
authorizing  Dermot  O'Connor  to  levy  two  thousand  men  in  his  pay, 
proceeded  homewards  by  a  route  west  of  Cashel.  Ormond  and 
Thomond,  without  disturbing  his  march,  hovered  near,  but  by  the 
middle  of  April  he  was  safe  back  in  Tyrone. 

It  was  time.  Charles  Blount,  created  when  the  war  ended 
earl  of  Devonshire  for  his  Gcrvices,  but  then  lord  Mountjoy,  more 
sensible  than  Essex,  had  been  in  February  installed  in  his  place. 
He  verified  Tyrone's  scornful  prediction  that  he  would  lose  oppor- 
tunities waiting  for  breakfast,  and  reached  Mullingar  too  late  to  in- 
tercept his  march,  which  by  rapid  strides  the  length  of  the  island 
baffled  deputy  and  Ormond  and  vexed  the  queen.  Ormond  and 
Thomond  repaired  to  the  vice-regai  court,  separately  returning  into 


558  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

r- 
Munster.     With  the  latter,  Sir  George  Carew,  appointed  president 

of  that  province  in  the  place  of  Norris,  left  the  capital,  Monday, seventh 
of  April,  IGOO,  attended  for  two  miles  on  his  way  by  all  the  grand 
functionaries,  and  proceeded  with  eight  hundred  men  by  Naas  and 
Catherlough  to  Kilkenny.  The  day  after  their  arrival,  which  was 
the  tenth,  Ormond  invited  his  guests  to  accompany  him  after  din- 
ner to  a  conference  appointed  with  Owen  O'Moore  the  young  chief- 
tain of  Leix,  to  take  place  at  Corronneduff,  upon  the  borders  of 
Idough  eight  miles  off. 

Accordingly,  when  their  noon-day  repast  was  over,  the  party, 
miscellaneously  composed  of  about  forty  persons,  seventeen  mount- 
ed troopers  and  a  few  lawyers  and  merchants  armed  with  their 
swords  and  on  hacknies,  left  the  castle.  An  escort  of  two  hun- 
dred foot,  which  must  have  retarded  their  movements  unless  sent 
in  advance,  were  left  to  aAvait  their  return  two  miles  from  the  place 
of  parley,  a  heath  near  a  ravine,  surrounded  by  scrubby  trees  and 
boggy  grounds.  Owen  Mac  Rory  with  his  body-guard  of  pikemen 
promptly  made  his  appearance,  some  five  hundred  of  his  clan  well 
armed  and  appointed,  with  twenty  horse,  being  in  view  beyond  the 
ravine  half  a  culverin  shot  distant.  The  conference  had  already 
lasted  an  hour  without  result,  when  Ormond  ui*ged  by  his  compan- 
ions to  withdraw  begged  first  to  see  Archer  the  Jesuit  to  whom  was 
chiefly  ascribed  the  consolidation  of  catholic  resistance  to  English 
rule. 

Conversation  warmed  into  discussion,  and  soon  the  earl  losing  his 
temper  called  the  priest  a  traitor,  reproving  him  for  embroiling  her 
majesty's  subjects  in  rebellion  under  pretext  of  religion.  The  gestures 
of  the  disputants  grew  menacing,  and  when  Archer  raised  his  staff, 
the  lookers  on  naturally  interested  drew  nearer  and  crowded  about  the 
wranglers  as  if  at  a  fair.  Suspicious  of  unfair  dealing,  which  they 
had  reason  in  their  recent  history  to  fear,  many  of  the  O'Moores 
crossing    the    ravine    likewise    gathered  round.      Thomond  begged 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  559 

tlieii-  cliicf  to  send  them  back,  the  president  besouglit  Ormond  to 
retire.  As  they  turned  to  depart,  the  latter  was  drawn  from  his 
horse  and  hurried  off  into  the  woods.  Carew  says  the  chief  hiid 
hands  upon  himself,  but  their  powerful  chargers  trampling  down  who- 
ever came  in  their  way,  bore  him  and  Thomond,  wounded  in  the  back 
with  a  pike,  out  of  the  throng.  The  royalists,  eager  to  secure  the 
priest  as  pledge  for  the  safety  of  Ormond,  rushed  upon  him  but 
were  driven  off  by  Cornelius  O'Reilly.  Skirmishing  continued 
till  nightfall  ended  the  combat,  and  the  next  day  both  parties  had 
disappeared. 

That  no  treachery  had  been  intended  is  abundantly  manifest. 
The  men  of  Leix  so  largely  outnumbered  the  royalists  that  they 
could  have  easily  cut  them  off.  Two  months  the  earl  continued  in 
captivity  pressed  by  the  priest  to  return  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers, 
and  he  either  dissembled  or  else  was  half  persuaded  to  do  so.  At  the 
request  of  Tyrone,  he  was  liberated  in  June,  giving  the  eldest  sons 
of  twelve  of  his  principal  vassals  as  pledges  for  the  payment  of 
three  thousand  pounds  that  he  would  not  resent  his  capture.  Owen 
was  slain,  the  pledges  escaped,  and  no  ransom  was  paid. 

Meanwhile  when  the  fugitives  reached  the  castle,  the  countess  and 
her  only  child,  a  maiden  of  eighteen,  were  sore  distressed.  Ormond,* 
though  destined  to  survive  fifteen  years  longer,  dying  quite  blind  in 
1614,  was  already  advanced  in  years  and  constantly  exposed  in  the 

*  This  tenth  earl  Thomas  Duff,  captured  by  O'Moore,  is  said  to  have  been  of  great  parts, 
admirable  judgment,  vast  experience  and  a  prodigious  memory,  comely  and  graceful,  and 
from  his  dark  complexion  called  by  the  queen  her  black  husl)and.  The  flower  of  his 
country,  he  kept  the  greatebt  house,  used  the  greatest  hospitality,  and  his  valor,  wisdom  and 
liberality  made  him  known  in  many  lands.  He  repaired  Kilkenny  and  Carrick  at  great 
expense,  made  a  deer  park  at  Earlscrags  near  the  former  place,  where  he  founded  a  hospi- 
tal, and  also  erected  a  castle  near  Holycross.  Since  1.546  he  had  held  the  earldom,  and  lived 
beyond  fourscore.  As  he  lost  his  sight,  according  to  Lodge,  fifteen  years  before  his  death  in 
1614,  this  calamity  must  have  overtidcen  him  at  this  time  when  he  was  about  seventy.  His 
son  Thomas  died  without  issue  in  1605,  and  Eiizaljeth,  the  only  survivor  of  the  family,  mar- 
ried Sir  Robert  Preston,  created,  1614,  earl  of  Desmond.  Their  only  child,  born  161-5,  married 
her  kinsman,  grandson  of  Walter  eleventh  earl,  James  first  duke  of  Ormond,  1607-1688. 
The  second  cluke  their  grandchild,  16-51-174.5,  was  attainted  in  1715,  but  the  earl  of  Arran 
purchased  his  estates  under  an  Act  of  Parliament,  which  are  still  held  in  part  by  the  present 
marquisscs  created  in  1825.  They  derive  from  Richard  of  Kilcash,  iTothcr  of  the  first 
duke,  and  their  claim  to  the  earldom  was  allowed  on  the  ground  that  an  English  attainder 
did  not  affect  an  Irish  peerage. 


560  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

field  to  danger,  his  death  would  involve  a  disputed  succession.  His 
next  brother  Edmund  not  restored  in  blood,  his  nephew,  Walter  of  the 
rosaries,  who  eventually  succeeded  as  eleventh  earl,  and  lord  Mount- 
garret  had  also  their  claims.  Five  hundred  men  left  to  protect  the  count- 
ess, the  president  reached  Waterford  on  the  sixteenth.  Desmond  at 
Youghall  blocked  his  way  to  Cork  with  forces  superior  to  his  own, 
the  whole  army  of  Munster  then  consisting  of  but  three  thousand 
foot  and  two  hundred  horse.  By  recourse  to  one  principal  means  of 
success,  he  contrived  to  induce  Power  and  Fitzgerald,  natural  son 
of  Decies,  to  desert  the  enemy  and  come  in. 

Whilst  disposed  to  admit  all  that  his  biographer  claims  of  ability 
for  Florence  jNIacCarthy,  his  natural  desire  to  recover  his  wife's  in- 
heritance proved  a  fatal  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  Irish  consoli- 
dation. To  become  powerful  and  feared  parallel  instances  pointed 
out  as  the  path  to  success  ;  and  this  was  the  loadstone  that  influenced 
the  devious  paths  which  proved  as  fatal  to  himself  as  to  his  country. 
His  wife  discouraged  his  vacillations  and  politic  courses.  She  was 
personally  attached  to  the  queen  and  a  favorite  at  court.  He  had 
been  eleven  years  a  prisoner,  three  in  the  Tower  in  a  cell  in  which 
he  could  not  stand  upright.  But  neither  his  character  nor  his  good 
sense  were  improved  by  adversity.  It  simply  rendered  him  crafty  and 
selfish.  His  principal  armed  resistance  to  the  crown,  he  defended 
as  warranted  by  unjust  aggression  against  his  own  people.  He  had 
in  some  way  obtained  possession  of  the  old  Head  of  Kinsale,  the 
inheritance  of  the  DeCourcies.  His  own  patrimony  vras  not  far 
removed,  and  this  now  suffered  maraud,  possibly  on  his  part  pro- 
voked, since  as  a  new  chief  he  may  well  have  inclined  to  signalize  his 
elevation  by  the  customary  hosting. 

Just  before  the  president  reached  Waterford,  captains  Flower  and 
Bostock  had  been  sent  by  the  commissioners  with  twelve  hundred 
foot  and  two  hundred  horse  to  burn  and  spoil  in  Carbery  towards 
Kosse.     They  took  thirty-seven  men  of  note  prisoners.     Florence 


TRANSFEK     OF     ERIN.  561 

with  two  thousand  bonoghs  under  Dermot  O'Conor,  laid  in  wait 
for  them  on  their  return,  at  Awnsby  bridge  mid- way  between  Coi-k 
and  Kinsale.  They  lay  concealed  in  a  glen  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river,  and  on  the  south  in  a  scrubby  wood,  wlien  Bostock  in  advance 
espied  the  gleam  of  their  morions  and  turned  back.  Perceiving  they 
were  discovered,  they  emerged  from  their  covert  and  fell  upon  the 
foragers,  who  fled  to  a  ruined  castle  half  a  mile  oiF.  In  the  pursuit 
Lane  posted  in  ambush  slew  the  brother  of  O'Conor  as  he  passed. 
The  catholics  reached  Kinalmeaky  that  night  and  stayed  two  days 
with  their  wounded.  Both  sides  claimed  the  victory.  The  attention 
of  the  enemy  thus  occupied,  the  president  reached  his  capital,  visiting 
Barry  as  he  went.  Lacy  for  six  hours  fought  with  Slingby  and  four 
hundred  men  freebooting  towards  Kilmallock,  Redmond  Burke  and 
six  hundred  men  with  one  of  the  O'Dwyers,  friendly  to  the  queen. 

With  seven  thousand  able  and  well  armed  foes  serving  for  bonaght 
or  as  clansmen  inside  his  province,  and  thrice  that  number  without  to 
aid  them,  Carew  resorted  to  craft.  The  white  knight  not  long 
before  denounced  by  Fitzthomas,  held  to  ransom  by  Burke,  and  preyed 
upon  by  Ormond,  was  angry  and  sore,  and  yielded  easily  to  his 
blandishments  ;  Condon  and  Barret  to  his  menaces  in  order  to  es- 
cape depredation.  Florence,  notwithstanding  his  late  battle  at  the 
bridge,  ventured  under  safe  conduct  to  Shandon,  and  though  object- 
ing to  giving  his  oldest  son  as  pledge,  lest  by  disaffecting  his  follow- 
ers his  wife's  inheritance  now  nearly  recovered  should  be  lost,  con- 
sented even  to  that  if  the  queen  would  confirm  his  right  to  Clancarre, 
bestow  upon  him  the  earldom  or  recognize  him  as  chief,  and  allow 
him  three  hundred  men  in  her  pay.  Threatened  with  fire  and  sword 
if  he  persisted  in  hostilities,  time  was  proposed  for  consideration,  he 
promising  meanwhile  to  remain  neutral,  furnish  intelligence  and  per- 
form underhand  service. 

Acknowledged  Maccarthy  Mor  and  chief  of  his  name  by  Tyrone, 
his  defection  neutralized  fifteen  hundred  of  his  immediate  followers,  and 
71 


562  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

as  many  more  dependents  of  its  other  branches.  It  worked  greater 
prejudice  to  the  catholics  that  he  remained  their  ostensible  friend. 
Their  leaders  at  a  loss  to  account  for  his  conduct,  yet  reposing  faith 
in  his  professions,  remonstrated  and  demanded  explanation,  but  were 
not  disposed  to  break  with  one  who  constituted  an  important  element 
of  their  strength.  Honesty  would  have  proved  his  better  policy,  and 
historians  concur  in  the  opinion  that  he  merited  his  fate.  But  his 
duplicity,  if  not  to  be  defended,  grew  out  of  his  position,  and  was 
of  a  character  with  that  of  the  queen  and  her  ministers.  It  was  not 
without  parallel  in  the  case  of  Tyrone,  who,  as  will  be  remembered, 
in  climbing  the  giddy  heights  of  his  ambition,  played  fast  and  loose. 

Maccarthies  nolonger  dangerous,  Geraldines  remained  to  be  crushed. 
Lands  had  been  confiscated  but  not  hearts,  and  their  loyalty  baulked 
of  its  natural  object  in  the  protestant  prisoner  in  the  tower,  cen- 
tred on  James  Fitzthomas,  rightful  earl  but  for  the  irregular  marriage 
of  his  grandsire.*  Margaret,  wife  of  O'Connor  general  of  the  bon- 
oghs,  yearned  for  the  restoration  of  her  captive  brother  to  the  earl- 
dom, and  the  president,  an  adept  in  intrigue,  improved  this  feeling  for 
his  own  purposes.  Like  the  evil  spirit  in  the  garden,  he  tempted  the 
wife  and  she  her  husband,  poor  but  for  his  pay,  offering  them  a  thou- 
sand pounds  to  kill  the  Sugan  or  betray  him  into  his  power.  About 
the  same  time  he  bought  one  Nugent,  also  in  the  catholic  service,  to 
kill  John  the  Sugan's  brother. 

His  march  for  Limerick,  announced  for  the  sixth  of  May,  the 
catholics  collected  in  force  to  intercept,  but  their  supplies  exhausted 
before  he  appeared,  they  dispersed.  Two  weeks  later,  when  the  way 
was  clear,  he  left  Cork  for  Mallow,  and  at  Kilmallock  the  white  knight, 
who  had  requested  time  to  recover  his  pledges,  came  in.  Possession 
was  taken  as  they  went  of  Brough,  abandoned  by  Lacy,  of  import- 
ance to  keep  open  the  road  to  Limerick,  now  for  nearly  two  years 

*  The  first  wife  of  James,  fourteenth  earl,  was  granddaughter  of  his  brother  Maurice. 
Such  marriages,  by  dispensation,  liave  been  sanctioned  by  the  catholic  church. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  563 

impassable,  and  likewise  to  watch  Lochguire,  three  miles  oiF  on  an 
island  not  easily  approached,  where  John  Fitzthomas  then  lay. 
Carew  reconnoitred  the  place  as  he  passed,  and  at  Limerick  where 
he  rested  three  days  its  warden,  Owen  Graem,  from  the  north,  left 
in  charge  by  Tyrone,  offered  to  betray  it  for  sixty  pounds.  This  sum 
paid  to  an  emissary  it  is  pleasant  to  think  never  reached  the  traitor. 

Nugent  was  already  at  work.  When  the  army  had  passed,  John  left 
the  island  for  Aherlow,  where  his  forces  were  encamped,  with  Nugent 
whom  he  trusted  riding  as  his  companion,  but  who  dropping  to  the 
rear,  when  he  supposed  himself  unobserved  aimed  a  double  loaded 
pistol  at  his  back.  Coppinger,  also  of  the  party,  seasonably  discover- 
ing what  he  was  about,  struck  up  the  weapon,  and  at  his  cry  of  treason 
Nugent  fled.  His  horse  stumbling  he  was  caught,  and  when  hung 
the  next  day  confessed  his  design  had  been  to  kill  both  brothers, 
alleging  that  others  had  been  employed  by  Carew  for  a  like  purpose. 
James,  when  twelve  months  later  a  prisoner,  declared  that  this  unex- 
pected treachery  prevented  his  brother  and  himself  from  ever  sleeping 
under  the  same  roof,  or  appearing  together  at  the  head  of  their  men, 
lest  the  destruction  of  both  should  prove  disastrous  to  the  cause. 

His  army  refreshed,  the  president  raided  the  Burkes,  lords  of 
Clanwilliam  and  half-brothers  of  Lacy,  who  unlike  their  haughty 
sires  bowed  in  the  dust  before  the  satrap,  to  escape  plunder  by  his 
locusts,  a  fate  which  overtook  Owny.  Visiting  Thomond  at  Bun- 
ratty  to  concert  future  operations,  an  armed  vessel  came  in  with 
ordnance  to  reduce  the  castles  on  the  river.  O'Donnell  down  again 
in  Connaught,  eight  hundred  men  were  detailed  to  drive  him  out. 
The  president  placed  the  rest  of  his  forces  in  garrison,  a  step  which, 
with  so  little  effected,  occasioned  surprise,  but  it  was  to  afford 
O'Connor  opportunity  to  seize  the  Sugan,  not  easy  when  their  armies 
were  massed  and  which  separated  for  subsistence  whenever  their  foes 
did  the  like.  To  further  the  plot,  Carew  had  addressed  James  a 
letter  acknowledging  pretended  communications  from  him  and  his 


564  TKANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

brother,  confirming  his  assurance  of  a  Hberal  reward  if  they  betrayed 
O'Connor  as  promised.  Dermot  contrived  a  conference  on  the 
eighteenth  of  June,  with  his  colleague  in  command,  when  altercation 
purposely  provoked  between  their  officers  as  to  the  disposal  of  camp 
hides,  James  to  appease  the  quarrel  sent  off  his  followers.  Thus  left 
powerless,  Dermot  denounced  him  as  a  traitor,  producing  the  letter  of 
Carew,  alleged  to  have  been  intercepted,  and  sent  him  as  prisoner  of 
Tyrone  to  the  castle  of  Ishin,  removing  thence  his  own  wife  and  hos- 
tages to  Ballyallinan,  a  castle  of  MacShyhy. 

Dermot  had  overreached  himself.  False  and  base  he  distrusted  his 
confederate  and  had  insisted  on  pledges  for  his  blood  money,  and  was 
not  willing  to  lose  hold  of  his  prisoner  until  it  was  paid.  Two  sons 
of  the  archbishop  of  Cashel  and  two  Powers,  foster-brothers  of  his 
wife,  selected  to  avoid  suspicion,  had  been  placed  in  his  keeping,  and 
one  of  the  latter  he  now  sent  to  the  president  to  meet  her  at  Kilmallock 
to  consummate  their  infamous  bai-gain.  Carew  waited  there  a 
week,  but  meantime  the  Sugan  had  been  rescued.  His  brother  John, 
Lacy,  Fitzmaurice  and  William  Burke  gathered  their  forces,  from 
eighteen  hundred  to  four  thousand  as  differently  stated,  and  forcing 
the  warden  to  surrender  Ishin,  carried  off  James  in  triumph.  They 
then  besieged  Dermot.  The  president  marched  to  his  relief,  but  when 
three  miles  off  the  castle  capitulated,  and  strange  to  say,  either  de- 
luded by  the  representation  that  the  letter  was  without  his  connivance, 
or  his  command  of  the  bonoghs  made  it  prudent  to  dissemble,  on  his 
promises  of  fidelity  Dermot  was  taken  again  into  favor.  The  wits  at 
court  insisted  that  Carew  had  been  duped.  He  went  back  discom- 
fited to  Limerick,  and  thence  by  Askeaton  seventeen  miles  to  reduce 
Glynn,  harassed  as  he  went  by  Desmond,  who  encamped  within 
striking  distance  had  Carew  inclined.  O'Flaherty  and  Macwilliam 
now  proposed  to  be  neutral  for  a  price,  and  O'Connor  Kerry  and  the 
knight  of  the  valley  tendered  submission.  It  being  intended,  how- 
ever, to  occupy  their  castles  of  Glynn  and  Carrigophoyle  which  com- 
manded the  Shannon,  their  submission  was  declined. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  565 

On  the  fifth  of  July  the  army  reached  Glynn.  This  was  a  castle 
about  one  hundred  feet  square.  Advantage  was  taken  of  a  parley  to 
land  their  guns  and  take  a  position  of  strength.  Two  days  later  the 
knight  of  the  valley  came  in  on  safe  conduct  to  the  earl  of  Thomond, 
but  standing  upon  conditions  was  commanded  to  depart.  His  son,  six 
years  old,  Carew  threatened  to  kill,  and  the  child  was  actually  placed 
upon  the  gabions  as  a  mark  from  the  castle  wall,  but  removed  before 
the  battery  opened  its  fire.  It  v/as  probably  designed  as  bravado  or 
menace,  but  the  president  had  a  natural  love  for  deeds  of  atrocity. 
The  constable  of  the  castle  came  also  under  safe  conduct  to  persuade 
the  besiegers  to  stay  the  attack  as  the  catholic  army  was  near,  but 
without  changing  their  purpose. 

Incessant  fire  after  two  days  eflTecting  a  breach  into  the  cellar 
beneath  the  great  hall,  Flower,  sergeant-major,  with  five  companies 
rushed  in,  and  from  the  turrets  above  commanded  the  donjon  to  which 
the  garrison  had  withdrawn.  A  sally  at  night  was  attempted  and  two 
warders  escaped,  but  the  constable  was  slain.  The  assailants  fired  the 
tower  door.  It  burnt  for  two  hours,  and  as  the  smoke  cleared  away 
the  defenders  proflTered  terms,  not  accepted,  of  surrender.  Power, 
Slingsby,  Nevil,  Harvey  with  hundreds  of  men  filed  up  the  windino- 
staii'case  to  the  battlements,  where  after  a  desperate  engagement 
thirty  of  the  English  were  killed  and  wounded,  eighty  of  the  garrison 
being  either  thrown  over  into  the  water  or  slain,  twenty-three  of 
them  followers  of  the  lord  of  the  castle. 

The  knight  of  the  valley  had  not  been  in  arms,  but  had  tendered 
submission  which  had  been  rejected.  If  civil  war  existed  it  should 
not  have  involved  non-combatants,  and  this  wholesale  massacre  in 
repeated  instances,  of  prisoners  or  men  defending  their  homes,  burnt  or 
cut  to  pieces  by  order  of  the  president,  was  outrage  without  palliation. 
The  treachery  of  Dermot  paralyzed  catholic  action.  John  O'Connor 
yielded  Carrigophoyle  four  miles  down  the  river,  the  strongest  castle  in 
Kerry,  earl  Donogh  giving  him  another  and  thirteen  ploughlauds  in 


566  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Thomond,  where  he  remained  passive  till  the  Spaniards  came.  The 
bonoffhs,  eager  for  home,  crossed  the  Shannon  with  Dermot  O'Con- 
nor,  the  Burkes  of  Clanwilliam  attacking  them  as  they  passed  and 
slaying  sixty  of  their  number. 

After  reducing  various  smaller  castles,  the  president,  again  in 
Limerick  on  the  sixteenth  of  July,  refreshed  his  forces  for  a  week, 
when  Florence,  who  had  been  in  camp  with  Desmond,  strove  to  per- 
suade Talbot,  lieutenant  of  Stack,  to  surrender  to  him  Liscaghan. 
The  president  taking  umbrage  marched  with  a  thousand  men  down 
the  north  shore  of  the  Shannon,  and  at  Carrigophoyle  crossed  the 
river,  there  six  miles  wide,  to  raid  Clancarre.  Both  Desmond  and 
Carew  wrote  the  recreant  Florence  to  take  sides  with  them,  but  he 
chose  to  preserve  his  neutrality.  Fitzmaurice,  his  chief  castle  of 
Lixnaw  taken,  died  of  vexation  on  the  twelfth,  and  his  son  Thomas, 
eio'hteenth  baron,  succeeded.  Tralee  was  seized  and  Rathown  the 
episcopal  abode.  When  the  president  was  about  to  enter  Kerry  he 
remembered  that  four  thousand  men  could  be  there  arrayed  against 
him.  It  also  came  to  his  knowledge  that  Florence  was  bringing 
about  a  matrimonial  alliance  between  the  Sugan  and  the  sister  of 
Cormac  MacDermot,  lord  of  Muskerry.  Leaving  the  command  to 
Sir  Charles  Wilmot,  he  started  for  Cork  to  circumvent  them. 

He  learnt  on  his  way  that  Florence  had  sent  to  Tyrone  for  the 
release  of  his  brother-in-law  Owen  O'Sullivan  Mor,  who  refusing 
to  pay  bonacht  to  Dermot  O'Connor  had  been  carried  by  him  to  the 
north.  Florence  had  consented  to  his  capture,  though  not  openly  for 
he  owed  to  him  wife  and  chieftainship.  Owen  was  now  needed  to 
brino-  out  the  strength  of  Dunkerron.  Lacy  tendered  submission, 
but  Carew  had  lost  faith  in  others,  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  Lacy 
could  have  been  false  to  the  catholics.  The  white  knight,  when 
Harvey  burnt  his  town  by  mistake,  and  made  war  upon  his  son  who 
protested,  hurting  sixty  of  his  men,  probably  wished  he  had  himself 
kept  steadfast.     Sir  William  Fitzgerald,  knight  of  Kerry,  refusing 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  567 

to  entertain  the  Sugan  at  Dingle,  and  for  this  raided  by  his  catholic 
neighbors,  was  received  into  favor.  But  when  the  new  lord  of  Lix- 
maw  through  his  brother-in-law,  the  earl  of  Thoraond,  proffered 
submission,  the  conditions  demanded,  he  wrote,  stood  not  with  his 
conscience  or  honor. 

His  wife,  Honora  O'Brien,  displayed  at  this  time  the  fiery  character- 
istics of  her  race,  owing  to  her  husband's  integrity  immunity  from  any 
misconstruction.  Maurice  Stack,  of  small  statue  but  fierce  and  over- 
bearing, had  been  dining  with  her  and  her  brother  Daniel,  first  viscount 
Clare,  at  her  castle,  when  taking  him  aside  for  some  object  of  import- 
ance after  the  repast  was  finished,  some  indignity,  word  or  deed, 
provoked  her  resentment.  Summoning  her  guard  they  stabbed  him 
with  their  skeins,  and  the  next  day  her  husband  hung  the  brother 
of  Stack  who  was  in  his  keeping.  The  nature  of  the  provocation 
never  transpired.  The  earl,  who  sided  with  the  queen  as  she  with 
the  catholics,  according  to  English  writers,  condemned  the  conduct 
of  his  sister,  but  if  so  it  was  probably  either  from  prejudice  or  not 
to  lose  favor  with  the  party  whose  cause  he  had  espoused.  She  did 
not  long  survive  for  regret  or  repentance,  if  occasion  there  was  for 
either,  for  this  year  going  home  into  Thomond  she  died. 

Carew  meanwhile  had  given  orders  through  Wilmbt,  that  the 
garrisons  should  secure  what  they  could  of  the  harvest  and  destroy 
the  rest,  a  course  pursued  at  this  time  throughout  Ireland,  creating 
the  famine  which  the  next  year  effected  its  subjugation.  The  supe- 
riority of  English  arms  being  in  artillery,  for  fear  the  guns  left  by 
Essex  at  Cahir  which  James  Gal  die,  brother  of  its  lord,  occupied, 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  Carew  sent  the  baron,  with 
Comerford  the  justice,  to  gain  possession,  threatening  to  destroy  the 
castle  if  his  orders  were  disobeyed.  Dermod  Mac  Owen,  of  Duhallo, 
of  great  wit  and  courage,  was  won  over,  and  his  chiefs  Macawley 
and  O'Keefe,  and  Ardart  after  nine  days'  defence  reduced. 

The  president  lived  in  perpetual  dread  of  Florence,  "  a  Saul  taller 


568  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

than  his  fellows,"  vigorous,  of  great  ability,  and  notwithstanding  his 
vacillations  influential  at  the  English  court  and  among  his  own  peo- 
ple. His  wife  Ellen  at  times  resented  his  hostility  to  the  queen,  and 
it  is  said  even  shut  him  or  his  warders  out  of  castle  Lough,  her  pat- 
rimonial abode  on  Killarney.  Kerry,  mountainous,  rich  in  its  forest 
wealth,  and  valleys  thick  with  herds  and  grain,  had  hardly  been 
reached  by  the  war,  and  defended  by  thousands  of  a  warlike  race 
set  English  rule  at  defiance.  The  Sugan  had  agreed  to  relinquish 
to  Florence  all  chief  dues  over  Beare  and  Bantry,  the  famous 
beeves  of  Carbery  extorted  when  Geraldines  were  strong,  Killaha, 
Quirinie,  Carrigowan  and  Balliny  near  Cork.  Carew  endeavored, 
by  taking  into  fixvor  Donal,  Ellen's  base  brother,  to  disconcert  their 
schemes. 

Raleigh  advised  the  queen  to  send  over  from  his  English  prison, 
James  Fitzgerald  as  earl,  who  arrived  at  Youghal  on  the  eighteenth 
of  October  in  charge  of  Price,  but  their  reception  at  Cork  was 
discouraging,  for  they  could  not  obtain  shelter  or  food.  At 
Kilmallock,  a  vast  concourse  assembled  to  greet  him  upon  his 
arrival  on  Saturday,  showering  upon  him  wheat  and  salt  in  token 
of  welcome ;  but  when  the  next  morning  he  attended  not  chapel  but 
church,  he  was  discarded  by  all.  His  friend,  Thomas  Oge,  warden 
of  Castlemayne,  yielded  up  that  foi'tress  at  his  request,  which  had 
hitherto  been  held  for  his  rival,  and  through  his  means  an  alliance 
planned  by  his  mother  for  his  sister  Joan*  with  O'Donnel,  was 
averted.  Another  between  himself  and  Lady  Norris  had  been  pro- 
jected, but  was  prevented  by  the  queen  who  chose  to  dispose  of  him 
as  her  ward. 

Eager  to  see  his  brother-in-law,  Dermot  O'Connor  requested  safe 
conduct  into  Munster.  When  within  twenty  miles  of  Limerick  he 
was  set  upon  by  Theobald  of  the  ships,  son  of  Grace  O'Mally,  who 
chased  him  into  an  old  church,  set  it  on  fire,  killing  forty  of  his  men 

*  Joan  afterwards  married  Dermod  O'Sullivan  Beare. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  5G9 

driven  out  by  the  flames,  and  cutting  off  his  head.  Theobald  to  his 
countrymen  excused  the  act  as  fitting  punishment  for  betraying  the 
Sugan  to  the  English,  and  to  the  English  as  righteous  retribution  for 
Dermot  having  killed  his  own  kinsman  Bourke  near  Limerick.  It 
cost  him  his  men  and  his  pay,  but  not  many  future  preferments  after 
the  reign  of  the  queen  was  over. 

Carew,  restless  when  not  destroying,  improved  also  the  law  to 
jrlut  his  cravinof.  He  started  from  Kilmallock  in  November  to  exe- 
cute  what  he  terms  exemplary  justice  upon  rebels  decoyed  into  his 
clutch.  At  Limerick  and  Cashel  his  gaol  delivery  was  the  scaffold, 
as  also  at  Clonmel,  where  he  strove  to  persuade  Ormond,  sum- 
moned to  confer  with  him,  to  permit  him  to  sweep  his  palatinate 
with  fire  and  sword.  The  aged  earl  no  longer  rioting  in  bloodshed, 
as  once  when  Gerald  was  his  foe,  evaded  this  solicitation  by  under- 
taking himself  the  unwelcome  task,  from  which  he  was  set  free  by 
the  loss  of  his  countess.  The  president,  as  a  terror  to  harborers  of 
traitors,  burnt  house  and  harvest  in  Owney,  killed  all  mankind 
in  JNluskry quirk  where  some  kind  friend  had  succored  Lacy,  and 
in  Aherlow  left  neither  man  nor  beast. 

Capturing  a  lad  who  had  been  recently  servant  to  the  Sugan, 
he  induced  him  by  threat  or  promise  of  reward  to  betray  his 
master,  and  guide  Thornton,  Thomond  and  Harvey  to  the  place 
where  he  lay  in  Drumfinnin.  Sentinels  on  the  watch  seasonably 
signalled  their  approach,  and  the  hunted  earl  fled  barefoot  from  his 
ruined  cabin,  MacCarthy,  papal  bishop  of  Cork,  his  companion, 
clad  as  a  churl,  passing  by  them  unregarded.  Carew  boasted  to 
the  council  that  not  a  castle  in  Munster,  not  five  rebels  of  seven 
thousand  when  he  came,  held  out  against  the  queen,  a  pious  work 
to  use  his  own  expression  to  be  attributed  to  God.  John  Berkeley 
helped  on  the  good  cause.  He  seized  a  thousand  cows  and  two 
hundred  horses  from  Macawley  for  extending  hospitality  common  in 
72 


570  TRANSFEK     OF    ERIN. 

the  land  to  the  heart  broken  fugitives,  and  slew  many  who  had 
sought  safety  in  the  bogs. 

The  towns  making  merchandize  of  the  war  had  thriven.  Tliey 
wisely  selected  lawyers  for  their  magistrates  for  their  better  protection 
against  arbitrary  exactions.  One  of  the  garrison  of  Limerick 
stealing  a  hatchet  and  cast  into  prison,  the  president  demanded  his 
release.  This  Gal  way  the  mayor  resisting  as  contrary  to  their 
chartered  rights,  he  was  arrested,  carried  off  to  a  neighboring 
castle,  fined  four  hundred  pounds  and  the  citizens  compelled  to  choose 
another  in  his  stead.  The  fine  was  expended  in  repairing  the  city 
walls,  but  this  excessive  punishment  for  a  slight  offence  provoked 
ill  will,  and  the  more  when  their  agent  sent  to  the  queen  to  remon- 
strate, returned  in  humiliation  and  without  redress. 

Of  "fifteen*  thousand  swordsmen"  the  president  found  in  Munster 
when  he  came,  two  thousand  he  had  placed  beneath  the  sod.  The 
rest  he  had  disarmed  by  promises  or  dissimulation,  by  his  skill  in 
stirring  up  strife  or  creating  fear  for  life  or  land.  Ten  thousand  lest 
they  should  be  compromised  by  their  foes,  he  says  were  knocking  at 
the  gate  for  pardons,  of  which  four  thousand  w^ere  actually  issued. 
Not  an  O'Connor  the  deputy  boasted  had  been  left  in  Offaly,  not 
forty  O'Moores  in  Leix,  and  the  indomitable  Tyrrell  ranged  a  fugi- 
tive in  Ulster.  The  mountain  chiefs  near  the  capital,  and  among  them 
Daniel  Spaniagh,  the  border  septs  towards  the  north,  O'Hanlons, 
MacMahons  and  O'Reillys,  Ferney  and  the  Fewes  were  subjected, 
and  a  strong  garrison  in  the  Brenny  ever  ready  like  the  spider  to 
pounce  upon  its  prey,  enabled  Maguire,  fighting  for  the  queen,  to 
sweep  high  up  towards  Loughfoyle. 

Meanwhile  James  Fitzthomas,  once  more  powerful  than  any 
Geraldine  among  his  predecessors  in  rule,  still  strong  in  the  hearts 
of  the  adherents  of  his  house,  wandered  as  his  uncle  Gerald  twenty 
years  before,  lurking  in  glen  and   mountain  evading  pursuit.     His 

*  This  is  in  the  Falstaflf  vein,  but  green  was  not  then  the  color  of  their  coat. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  571 

courage  buoyed  up  by  Spanish  promises  of  aid,  with  nothing  to  hope 
from  president  or  queen,  noble  and  trustful  he  accepted  his  lot, 
inspiring  affection  and  never  betrayed  by  any  clansman  in  whom  he 
placed  faith.  Diligent  search,  stimulated  by  the  offer  of  four  hun- 
dred pounds  set  upon  his  head,  led  to  the  capture  of  his  garments, 
but  his  faithful  harper  and  devoted  priest  baffled  the  efforts  of  his 
pursuers  by  their  shrewd  devices.  The  hiding  places  of  his  uncle 
about  Tralee  were  too  well  known,  and  he  ranged  from  one  conceal- 
ment to  another  among  the  hills  near  Aherlow  and  the  borders  of 
Ormond,  very  frequently  seeking  refuge  in  Clangibbon,  the  territory 
of  Fitzo'ibbon  the  white  kniofht. 

That  he  had  been  seen  thereabouts  was  reported  to  the  president. 
By  recourse  to  his  wonted  unscrupulous  procedure  Carew  succeeded  in 
effecting  his  capture  through  the  white  knight,  who,  though  not  friendly 
to  the  Sugan,  would  not  willingly  have  betrayed  him,  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  it  would  have  called  down  upon  him  the  detestation 
of  his  neighbors.  But  the  president,  instigated  by  Barry  who  had 
some  inveterate  grudge  against  Fitzgibbon,  held  him  responsible  for 
producing  the  earl,  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May,  in  a  cavern  many 
fathoms  in  depth  in  the  mountains  of  Slewgort  he  was  found.  Convic- 
tion in  Ireland  of  treason  being  indispensal)le  to  confiscation  of  lands 
there,  this  was  not  delayed,  and  other  indictments  were  draughted 
to  be  sent  over  with  him  to  the  queen.  As  his  brother  John  would 
have  succeeded  to  his  pretensions  if  he  were  executed,  his  life  was 
spared,  and  for  eight  years  he  remained  a  captive  in  the  tower. 

His  competitor  for  the  earldom  soon  realized  that  as  a  pro- 
testant  his  chance  of  happiness  was  small  even  if  restored.  But 
this,  if  seriously  intended,  had  not  worked  to  expectation.  All  the 
while  he  remained  in  ]Munster,  Richard  Boyle,  afterwards  earl  of 
Cork,  then  clerk  of  the  council  and  already  proprietor,  by  purchase 
from  Raleigh,  of  forty  thousand  acres  of  the  Desmond  confiscations 
destined  to  enrich  his  numerous  posterity,  had  been  employed   to 


572  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

keep  the  earl  in  constant  view,  report  who  had  resort  to  him,  indeed 
his  every  word  and  act.  James  by  his  long  imprisonment  in  the 
tower  was  ill  able  to  cope  with  one  so  astute.  It  certainly  was  not 
for  Boyle's  interests  that  the  project  of  restoring  the  earldom  with 
its  ancient  prerogatives  should  prosper,  and  it  did  not.  And  besides 
he  was  only  one  of  a  score,  then  even  more  powerful  than  himself, 
whose  interests  were  identical.  To  remain  longer  in  Ireland  became 
so  distasteful  to  James  that  he  longed  to  be  set  free  from  annoyances 
to  which  he  was  daily  subjected,  preferring,  as  he  wrote,  obscurity 
with  independence,  to  any  such  restraint.  He  urged  the  queen  to 
allow  him  free  range  and  suitable  maintenance,  or  else  an  adequate 
support  near  herself,  with  a  wife  of  her  own  selection. 

When  the  estates  of  Fitzmaurice  then  in  rebellion  were  offered  him, 
he  honorably  declined  them,  and  glad  to  escape,  had  gone  back  in 
April  to  await  such  provision  as  the  queen  would  make  for  him  in 
England.  He  did  not  long  survive,  dying  in  the  tower,  just  as 
Kinsale  fell  a  few  months  afterwards,  it  is  said  of  poison.  If  the 
draught  were  mingled  by  undertakers  who  dreaded  his  restoration,  not 
an  uncommon  experience  in  Geraldine  history,  and  they  thus  lose 
their  grants,  deeds  as  atrocious  for  less  motive  in  those  days  of  dark- 
ness were  not  without  example. 

Florence  still  hung  like  a  dark  cloud  over  the  head  of  the  presi- 
dent. Spain,  indignant  at  English  interference  with  her  provinces, 
humiliated  by  the  defeat  of  the  armada,  menaced  with  preparation 
which,  if  exaggerated  by  rumor,  caused  reasonable  alarm.  If  from 
a  prevailing  sense  of  the  inutility  of  premature  resistance  Munster 
remained  quiet,  Carew  knew  it  was  from  no  attachment  to  English 
rule  and  that  it  only  waited  opportunity.  Even  at  Blarney  close  by 
the  gates  of  his  capital  there  were  indications  of  disaffection,  and  if 
Muskerry  joined  the  Eoghenacht  he  might  be  shut  up  within  its 
walls.  Florence,  acknowledged  as  chieftain,  in  the  prime  and  vigor 
of  life,  of  noble  presence  and  vigorous  mind,  trained  in  the    best 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  573 

scliools  of  diplomacy  and  war,  with  all  the  qualities  but  disinterest- 
edness to  be  the  leader  of  men,  needed  but  gold  and  guns  to  imperil 
the  hold  on  Munster.  If  Spain  had  not  been  dilatory  and  had  come 
a  twelvemonth  sooner,  tliis  hold  might  have  been  shaken  off. 

This  wide-spread  disaffection  was  sufficiently  logical.  The  wrongs 
of  Florence  were  not  solitary  instances.  If  the  queen  and  her  min- 
isters had  been  more  honest  they  would  have  confirmed  to  him  his 
wife's  inheritance,  hers  not  only  by  Irish  rules  but  by  the  law  under 
Avhich  Elizabeth  held  her  crown.  The  settlement  made  by  her 
grandfather  in  due  form,  invalidating  the  surrender  beyond  the  life 
of  her  father,  vested  in  her  in  the  extinction  of  all  male  heirs  for 
several  generations  the  family  estates.  If  the  rights  of  the  other 
septs  and  chiefs  to  land  and  liberty  of  conscience  had  been  re- 
spected, opposition  to  English  rule  would  liave  died  out  and  a  vast 
loss  of  life  and  treasure,  much  shame  and  guilt  been  spared.  But  this 
was  not  the  disposition  of  the  times,  and  the  unjustifiable  policy  of 
colonizing  without  regard  to  the  birthright  of  the  people,  im- 
poverishment which  had  led  to  frequent  mortgages  of  estates  to  pay 
the  cost  of  resistance,  had  raised  up  a  crowd  of  anxious  claimants 
powerful  at  court. 

Too  weak  to  resist  or  resent,  the  chief  was  compelled  to  dis- 
semble in  the  trust  that  to  him  as  to  others  better  times  might 
come.  Desmond's  reverses  in  Aherlow  left  no  alternative  but  to 
temporize,  and  at  the  end  of  October,  under  protection,  with  forty 
mounted  attendants  he  appeared  at  the  gates  of  Mallow  and  received 
courteous  welcome  from  the  president.  He  promised  his  son  as  his 
pledge,  but  Carew  having  other  hostages,  he  went  as  he  came.  It 
was  charged  against  him  later  that  whilst  under  the  roof  of  the  pre- 
sident he  wrote  the  warden  of  Castlemagne  not  to  surrender  that 
stronghold ;  to  Redmond  Burke  in  Ely  to  hold  out,  for  aid  would 
soon  reach  him  from  Ulster.  He  was  again  at  Mallow  in  January, 
promising  to    surrender    his    son    and    take    out  his  pardon.     But 


574  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

Nicholas  Brown  and  Pelliam  were  claiming  his  estates  under  mort- 
gage, and  he  was  not  till  long  after  jjermitted  to  redeem  them.  It 
was  rumored  that  two  thousand  of  his  followers  were  organized 
and  armed  in  the  west,  and  as  he  was  leaving  Cork  for  his  own 
country  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison,  on  the  pretext  that 
he  had  promised  to  take  out  his  pardon,  and  that  the  period  specified 
would  be  at  an  end  in  two  weeks.  In  August  with  Desmond  he  was 
sent  over  to  the  queen  to  remain  in  captivity,  much  of  it  in  close 
confinement,  till  his  death. 


XLIV. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
Whilst  the  president  at  the  south,  by  fraud  rather  than  by  force, 
reduced  Munster  to  seeming  acquiescence  in  English  rule,  the 
deputy,  aided  by  Dowcra,  Morrison  and  Chichester  in  Ulster,  by 
Savage  in  the  west,  and  Lambert  in  the  centre  of  the  kingdom, 
e  nployed  the  same  weapons  for  the  like  objects.  As  the  operations 
of  these  two  years,  by  the  application  of  three-fourths  of  the  whole 
revenue  of  the  royal  treasury,  effectually  undermined  and  overthrew 
what  remained  of  Irish  independence,  they  claim  especial  notice. 
If,  instead  of  relying  upon  foreign  assistance.  Irishmen  had  trusted 
to  their  own  hearts  and  hands,  and  united  had  placed  the  direction 
of  affairs  in  O'Neil  who  merited  their  confidence,  even  if  consolida- 
tion of  the  two  nations  had  been  inevitable,  they  might  as  the  Scotch 
have  dictated  the  terms.  Although  the  course  of  events  at  either 
extremity  of  the  island  had  a  reciprocal  effect  in  bringing  them 
respectively  about,  and  alike  conduced  to  the  final  result  of  the 
struggle,  they  were  sufficiently  independent  for  separate  treatment. 
AYe  now  return  to  Blount,  whom  we  left  soon  after  his  installation  as 
deputy  in  February,  1600,  disappointed  at  not  having  intercepted 
Tyrone  on  his  way  home  from  Munster. 


TRANSFEE     OF     EKIN.  575 

Ilis  instructions  chiefly  relating  to  details  of  administration,  limited 
his  forces  to  twelve  thousand  foot  and  twelve  hundred  horse.  He 
was  to  provide  hospitals  for  the  sick,  take  care  that  the  soldiers  should 
not  sell  their  arms  or  leave  their  colors,  and  plant  garrisons  in  the  rebel 
countries.  He  was  empowered  to  protect  or  pardon  such  as  sub- 
mitted, even  Tyrone  himself  if  assured  of  his  sincerity  ;  one  test  of 
such  sincerity,  in  all  cases,  to  be  having  drawn  blood  one  upon 
another.  In  dealing  with  the  northern  chiefs  there  should  be  no 
exaction  of  profit,  but  simply  of  military  service  ;  and  there  should 
be  no  interference  with  religion  till  tliey  were  more  completely  sub- 
jected. Cities  and  towns  were  to  raise  and  maintain  forces  fur  their 
own  protection.  Surveys  were  to  be  made  of  their  shipping  against 
its  being  needed  for  public  service,  and  knighthood  was  not  to  be 
conferred  without  the  queen's  sanction. 

Morrison,  loyal  to  his  master,  represents  Blount  as  estimable  not 
only  in  his  private  relations,  but  as  an  accomplished  general  and  able 
statesman.  Success  is  not  invariably  the  safe  criterion  of  desert,  and 
the  conquest  consummated  under  his  sway  was  as  much  due  to  his  policy 
of  corruption  as  to  his  military  operations  or  extraordinary  wisdom. 
Thrice  during  the  summer  he  approached  the  borders  of  Tyrone  :  early 
in  May,  in  the  middle  of  July  and  of  September.  His  object  in 
INIay,  to  engage  the  attention  of  the  chiefs  whilst  Sir  Henry  Dowcra 
effected  his  landing  at  Loughfoyle,  was  crowned  with  success. 

This  long  contemplated  measure,  bridling  the  north  with  a  chain 
of  forts,  if  not  carried  out  to  the  extent  originally  designed,  favored 
by  circumstances,  notwithstanding  various  discouragements,  proved 
efl&cacious  beyond  expectation.  Towards  the  end  of  April  three 
thousand  foot  and  two  hundred  horse,  under  Dowcra,  left  Chester- 
ton to  meet  at  Knockfergus  another  thousand  of  veterans  from  the 
garrisons,  one-fourth  designed  under  Morgan  for  Bally  shannon. 
Their  landing  on  Loughfoyle  was  effected  on  the  sixteenth  of  May, 
without  opposition,  for  the  fighting  men  were  in  camp  with  Tyrone 


576  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

engaged  against  the  deputy.  In  six  days  Culmore,  surrounded  by 
river  and  bog,  open  to  the  sea  but  not  assailable  by  land,  afforded 
them  shelter  and  security,  marauds  into  Inishowen  fuel  and  food. 
Advanced  posts  were  established,  one  at  Aileach  home  of  the  ancient 
kings,  another  at  Derry  soon  to  be  famous,  w^here  an  area  of  forty 
acres  occupied  only  by  ruined  abbey  and  church,  castle  and  episco- 
pal abode,  strong  by  nature  and  now  further  strengthened  by  works 
of  earth  and  stone  taken  from  its  dilapidated  buildings,  became  his 
principal  headquarters. 

When  known  in  Ulster  what  was  intending,  the  chiefs  gathered 
their  clans.  They  marched  five  thousand  strong  with  all  speed  to 
meet  Blount,  who,  to  divert  their  attention  from  this  operation,  had  in 
May  advanced  to  Dundalk,  and  on  Whit-Sunday  by  the  Moyry  pass 
to  Newry.  Southampton,  still  in  command  of  the  cavalry,  on  his  way 
to  join  the  deputy,  five  hundred  men  were  despatched  under  Blayny  for 
his  protection.  Their  united  foi'ces  encountered  at  Four-mile-water, 
a  ford  environed  by  dense  forests  in  the  midst  of  the  pass,  an 
enemy,  of  whose  numbers  they  could  not  judge,  and  who,  when 
Blount  marched  down  from  Newry  to  effect  a  junction  with  the 
cavalry,  changed  tlieir  position  and  with  little  vigor  charged  the 
rear  of  Southampton  who  gained  some  glory  in  beating  them  off. 

Tyrone  with  no  powder  to  spare,  presuming  Blount  intended 
to  penetrate  further  into  Ulster  for  cooperation  with  the  northern  army, 
had  burnt  Armagh,  dismantled  Dungannon,  and  constructed  lines  three 
miles  in  extent  at  Loughlurken,  where  he  hoped  to  repeat  his  late 
victory.  But  when  news  came  from  Chichester,  at  Carrickfergus, 
that  the  invaders  were  already  entrenched,  the  deputy  moved  his  army 
by  the  pass  of  Carlingford,  that  of  Moyry  being  less  safe,  and  dis- 
tributin<T  it  among  the  garrisons  went  back  to  the  capital.  The 
chiefs  set  free  hastened  north,  but  in  vain  sought  to  tempt  Dowcra 
from  his  walls  at  CuUmore,  who,  his  army  already  wasted  one-fourth 
in  skirmish  and  by  disease,  had  begged  to  be  permitted  to  defer  the 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  577 

expedition  to  Ballysliannon.  Upon  representations  home  to  this 
effect,  tlie  deputy  being  at  the  time  too  busily  occupied  elsewhere  to 
spare  him  any  troops  for  the  purpose,  his  request  was  granted. 

Xot  cess  alone  but  many  other  oppressive  exactions  the  pale  had 
still  to  endure  from  the  soldiers.  Howth  and  Barnwal  sent  to  com- 
plain, chided  like  their  predecessors  twenty  years  before  for  coming 
without  consent  of  the  deputy,  obtained  but  little  relief.  15ut  no 
sooner  was  the  army  in  Ulster  than  the  tribes  around  burst  over  it 
like  a  tempest  sweeping  it  clean.  Blount,  his  diversion  effected 
for  the  northern  expedition,  hastened  home.  The  harpies  had  flown, 
but,  perhaps  to  retaliate,  in  July  he  went  back  to  spoil  the  crops 
he  had  left  growing.  Chichester  at  Knockfergus,  Morrison  at  Dun- 
dalk,  Bagnal  at  Xewry  emulated  his  example,  not  sparing  a  blade  of 
grass  they  could  destroy.  Two  of  the  ]\IacMahons  proffered  sub- 
mission, granted  to  each  on  condition  he  brought  the  other's  head. 
Maguire  came  in  and  O'Connor  Roe. 

Early  in  July,  Lambert  with  foui'teen  hundred  men  had  relieved 
Phillipstown  and  planted  a  garrison  at  Togher  to  keep  open  its 
communications,  and  on  the  twelfth  of  August  the  deputy,  upon  his 
return  from  his  maraud  towards  the  borders  of  Tyrone,  proceeding 
west,  joined  him  on  the  sixteenth,  both  fighting,  burning  and 
destroying  as  they  marched  to  meet.  The  next  day  they  reached  a 
dangerous  pass  to  the  magazines  of  Leix,  where  the  foe  in  ambush  let 
the  van  pass  by  and  attacked  the  deputy.  One  hundred  marksmen, 
Morrison  relates,  had  been  instructed  by  Tyrrell  to  shoot  the  general, 
whose  horse  was  killed  under  him.  O'Moore  fell,  and  with  him  for 
a  long  period  of  years  the  power  of  his  country  to  resist  the  yoke. 

Ripening  harvests,  ten  thousand  pounds  worth  in  a  day,  ruthlessly 
ravaged,  "  fields  fenced  and  excellently  tilled,  towns  frequently  in- 
habited, both  highways  and  paths  well  beaten,  because  until  now 
beyond  reach  of  the  war,"  Leix  was  utterly  wasted  and  left  a  desola- 
tion. Lambert  spoiled  Daniel  Spagniah  of  a  thousand  cows  and  half 
IB 


578  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

as  many  horses.  Savage,  governor  of  Connanght,  strove  in  vain  to 
join  the  deputy,  but  Keating  came  in  and  Kellies  and  Lalors,  who 
holding  Ormond's  pledges  gave  them  up  to  avert  like  depredations. 

Royal  missives  to  redress  the  abuses  in  the  pale  awaited  the  de- 
puty, whose  reply  to  Cecil  silenced  reproach.  He  was  ordered  to 
offer  two  thousand  pounds  for  Tyrone  alive,  half  as  much  for  his  head. 
But  one  of  his  countrymen  could  be  tempted,  and  that  his  kinsman 
Henry  Oge,  by  offer  of  the  earldom.  When  an  Englishman  employed 
by  the  deputy  to  assassinate  him  gained  his  presence,  the  chieftain  was 
too  carefully  guarded  by  his  devoted  followers  to  be  endangered. 

With  no  guns  to  batter  down  stone  walls,  and  anticipating  a  more 
favorable   conjuncture    when  the   enemy  was   fux'ther    reduced   and 
straitened,  O'Donnel  impatient  at  enforced    inactivity    went    down 
into  Connaught.     Brian  O'Rourke,  Donogh  O'Conor  Sligo,  Hugh 
O'Conor  Roe,  Conor  Mac  Dermot  of  Moylurg,  Mac  William,  Theo- 
bald son  of  Walter,   joined    them  at  Ballimote  with  their  forces. 
Their  march  through  Roscommon,  Kiltartan  of  the  O'Shaugnessys, 
by  the  O'Gradys  to  the  Fergus  was  unopposed.     His  detachments 
ravaged  from  Kirwan's  Crag  to  Balligowan.     "  Many  a  feast  fit  for  a 
goodly    gentleman    or  for  the  lord  of  a   territory,   was   enjoyed  at 
night  in  Thomond,  under  shelter  of  a  shrubbery  or  at  the  side  of  a 
bush."     Mansions  and  habitations   were   given  to  the  flames,   the 
clouds  of  smoke  and  vapor  that  marked  their  progress  obscuring  their 
way,  which  extended  to  within  four  miles  of  the  gates  of  Gal  way. 
At  the  hill  of  the  White  Horse,  between  that   city  and  Kilcolgan, 
the  prey  was  divided  and  after  a  grand  banquet  the  chiefs  separated. 
O'Donnel  with  four  hundred  men  proceeded  to  Loughrea,  the  chief 
residence  of  the  earls  of  Clanrickard,  whose  territory  he  wasted,  and 
then  returned  by  Corren  to  Ballimote,  and  in  September,  home. 

Sir  Arthur  O'Neil,  son  of  Turlogh  Lenagh,  also  promised  the  earl- 
dom of  Tyrone,  joined  Dowcra  in  June.  He  advised  a  maraud  upon 
O'Kane  across  the  lough.    It  was  carried  out  successfully  by  Chamber- 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  579 

lain,  slain  as  the  mouth  ended  in  another  battle  with  O'Doherty  who 
had  attacked  Aileach,  Early  in  July  eight  hundred  men  landing  at 
Dunalong  fortified  the  place,  skirmishing  with  Tyrone  whose  camp 
lay  two  miles  off.  Maelmora  MacSweeney  in  some  moment  of  dis- 
content had  deserted  his  sept  and  gone  oyer  to  London,  and  sent  out 
with  the  expedition  had  command  of  one  hundred  English  soldiers. 
Keturning  to  his  natural  allegiance,  O'Dounell  upon  his  information 
swept  off  two  hundred  horses  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  fort. 
Dowcra  started  in  pursuit,  and  charging  the  marauders  fell  struck 
by  a  staff  from  his  saddle,  stunned  by  the  blow.  "When  three  weeks 
later  he  counted  his  men,  not  one  in  five  was  fit  for  service. 

MacSweeny,  sent  to  Dublin  to  be  punished  for  his  treachery,  evad- 
•  ed  his  guard,  gaining  the  deck  through  a  hatch  left  open  to  set  beer, 
and  leaping  into  the  sea  swam  ashore.  In  August  Kory,  brother  of 
the  OKane,  bringing  meat  to  Culmore,  requested  command  of 
eight  hundred  men  for  some  notable  service.  Sir  Arthur  O'Xeil  at 
first  was  disposed  to  trust  him,  but  his  faith  soon  shaken  put  the 
general  on  his  guard.  The  day  after,  Rory  appearing  at  the  water- 
side opposite  the  fort,  offered  ransom  for  two  of  his  followers  left  in 
pledge  for  his  fidelity,  threatening  that  no  Englishman  in  his  power 
should  be  spared  if  harm  came  to  them.  For  answer  a  gibbet  was 
ordered  to  be  prepared  and  his  hostages  hung  up  before  his  eyes. 

Winter  set  in  early  for  men  unprovided  against  its  rigors.  Worn 
out  by  continuous  labor  and  with  but  six  days'  provision  left,  the 
chiefs  offered  them  safe  passage  home,  and  when  they  declined  assailed 
their  works.  It  was  without  effect,  and  the  day  after  ai'rived  supplies, 
six  hundred  men  with  frames  and  materials  for  two  houses  of  which 
they  stood  greatly  in  need.  Early  in  October,  Nial  Garve  next  in 
influence  with  the  Kiuelconnel  to  the  chief,  at  Dowcra's  solicitation, 
and  under  his  instructions  promised  all  Tyrconnel  if  he  would  abjure 
his  allegiance,  came  in  and  delivered  up  Lifford  placed  in  his  charge. 
The  castle,  dismantled,  was  repaired  and  rendered  tenable. 


580  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

When  OT)onnel,  again  employed  in  extending  his  authority  in 
Connaught  and  battling  with  Clanrickard  and  Thomond,  heard  of  this 
desertion  he  hurried  back.  Several  encounters  took  place  near  the 
castle  which  was  strongly  garrisoned  by  a  thousand  English  soldiers. 
In  one  of  them,  Manus,  brother  of  O'Donnell,  being  about  to  slay 
Nial  Garve,  Owen  O'Gallagher  fended  off  the  blow  through  hereditary 
loyalty  to  the  family  of  his  chieftain,  a  sentiment  his  kinsman  Cornelius 
did  not  share,  for  he  slew  Manus  and  was  hung  for  it  by  ODonnell. 
Eory,  brother  of  Manus y  roydararaa  of  Tyrconnel  and  afterwards  its 
earl,  rushed  lance  in  rest  upon  Nial,  the  head  of  whose  charger  thrown 
up  by  the  bridle  received  the  fatal  blow  intended  for  its  rider. 

"  Woe  is  me,"  saith  the  chronicler,  "  that  these  heroes  of  Kinel- 
connel  had  not  been  united,  for  whilst  at  peace  among  themselves 
they  were  not  driven  from  their  territories."  The  English,  their 
commander  Heath  mortally  wounded,  withdrew  to  Lifford,  sustain- 
ing considerable  loss  on  the  way.  The  chieftain  greatly  grieved, 
hastened  to  the  side  of  his  dying  brother,  who,  borne  on  a  litter  to 
Donegal,  lingered  for  a  week.  Repenting  his  pride  and  evil  thoughts, 
he  forgave  the  man  who  had  inflicted  the  fatal  wound,  declaring  that 
he  himself  gave  the  first  blow.  Before  the  year  ended ,  his  father  Hugh, 
then  very  aged,  who,  after  twenty-six  years  of  rule,  had  abdicated  in 
favor  of  his  son,  eight  years  before.  Was  also  interred  in  the  ancestral 
burial-place  at  Donegal,  where  the  previous  June  had  been  deposited 
the  remains  of  Joan  Maguire,  mother  of  Tyrone.  She  is  eulogized 
by  the  chroniclers  as  "  the  pillar  of  support  and  maintenance  of  the 
indigent  and  mighty,  of  poets  and  exiles,  of  widows  and  oqjhans,  of 
the  clergy  and  men  of  science,  the  head  of  counsel  and  advice  to 
the  gentlemen  and  chiefs  of  Ulster,  demure,  womanly,  devout,  chari- 
table, meek,  benignant,  with  pure  piety,  the  love  of  God  and  her 
neighbors." 

Frequent  reinforcements  from  home  made  good  the  waste  from 
battle  and  disease.     Dowcra  could  now  muster  an  effective  force  of 


TKANSFER     OF     ERIN.  581 

three  thousand  men.  The  soiithei*n  army  was  as  strong,  and  nine 
tliousand  remained  under  the  deputy  for  garrisons  and  field  opera- 
tions. With  half  he  encamped,  on  the  fifteenth  of  September,  at 
Faughard,  and  there  lay  several  weeks  "drenched  to  the  skin  by  con- 
tinual rains,  storms  blowing  down  his  tents."  He  knew  v.ell,  as 
Morrison  relates,  to  guard  himself  from  the  weather  by  many  gar- 
ments. He  was  also  provident  of  his  men,  and  his  hospitals  and 
magazines  were  under  cover  at  Dundalk  three  miles  off.  Tyrone,  in 
the  Moyry  pass,  was  less  favorably  placed.  His  clansmen  were  with- 
out shelter  and  often  famishing.  To  that  they  vrere  used ;  but  with 
no  heavy  guns,  and  scant  ammunition  for  their  matchlocks,  they  re- 
pulsed with  diflnculty  the  assaults  of  an  enemy  who  could  choose 
his  own  time  for  attack.  On  the  eighth  of  October  they  were  sore 
pressed  and  driven  out  of  their  woi'ks.  Weakened  by  the  defection 
of  Sir  Arthur  O'Neil  and  his  brothers,  many  of  his  best  soldiers  about 
Loughfoyle  protecting  their  own  neighborhoods  from  raids,  O'Don- 
nell  but  recently  hurried  home  from  Connaught  to  obviate  the  con- 
sequences of  Nial's  treachery,  Tyrone  not  having  men  to  lose  or 
powder  to  waste  without  result,  abandoned  the  pass. 

The  deputy,  kept  apprised  of  his  movements  by  scouts,  spies  and 
perhaps  traitors  in  his  camp,  learning  that  the  pass  was  left  unguard- 
ed, the  twenty-first  took  possession  of  it,  and  levelling  the  entrench- 
ments and  cutting  dowa  the  trees  on  either  side,  passed  through  to 
Newry  where  he  rested  his  troops.  Again  advancing,  on  the  second 
of  Xovember,  eight  miles  towards  Armagh,  he  there  erected  or  re- 
built a  fort  upon  a  promontory  surrounded  by  bogs,  woods  and  the 
river.  The  spot  had  been  selected  for  the  purpose  by  Norris,  under 
whom  Blount  had  served,  and  by  whose  name  it  was  called.  Tyrone 
obstructed  the  work  as  far  as  he  was  able  by  constant  skirmishes  with 
detachments  collecting  material,  but  it  was  completed  in  a  week,  and 
the  sergeant-major  Blayney  left  in  charge  with  four  hundred  men. 
It  had  been  intended  to  fortify  Armagh,  eight  miles  beyond,  but  its 


582  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

distance  from  the  base  of  supplies  and  numerous  garrison  required 
to  hold  it,  rendered  it  inexpedient. 

Shortening  days  and  tempests  increasing  in  violence,  discouraging 
further  operations  in  the  field  with  so  large  a  force  to  feed  and  keep 
effective,  the  deputy  proclaiming  a  reward  of  two  thousand  pounds 
for  Tyrone  alive,  half  that  amount  for  his  head,  left  Newry  for  his 
march  to  the  pale.  Instead  of  returning  by  the  INIoyry  pass,  through 
which  he  w^ould  have  had  to  fight  his  way,  he  chose  for  his  route  the 
pass  of  Carlingford,  at  Avhich  place  had  been  collected  supplies  of 
which  his  army  stood  in  need.  This  pass  terminating  at  its  south- 
erly end  some  half  a  dozen  miles  from  Dundalk,  led  along  the  coast 
and  part  of  the  way  consisted  of  a  beach  between  the  mountains  and 
the  sea,  merely  wide  enough  in  some  places  for  seven  men  to  walk 
abreast  when  the  tide  was  out,  and  which  became  wholly  impassable 
when  it  was  up  ;  at  which  time  a  road  through  the  forest,  narrow 
and  deep,  served  for  ordinary  travel.  Midway  of  the  pass  the  hills 
receded  from  the  shore  leaving  an  open  space,  encircled  on  the  west 
by  the  forests  which  covered  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  and  bounded 
on  the  north  by  a  stream  which  sought  its  outlet  across  the  beach. 
The  natural  features  of  the  scenery  bear  striking  resemblance  to  the 
description  given  by  Grote  of  the  more  famous  pass  where  Leonidas 
and  his  three  hundred  Spartans  for  a  while  stayed  twenty  centuries 
before  Xerxes  and  his  hosts.  That  shore  ended  in  marshes  bordering 
on  the  gulf,  the  Carlingford  beaches  opened  directly  on  the  sea. 

The  royalists  reached,  on  the  twelfth,  a  larger  stream  above  called 
the  Narrow-water,  swollen  by  autumn  rains,  which  the  infantry 
immediately  crossed,  the  cavalry  and  gunners  being  sent  round  by 
the  Faddome,  a  ford  higher  up.  Two  days  the  men  had  fasted,  but 
the  next  morning  refreshed  by  provisions,  chiefly  consisting  of  bread 
and  butter  sent  by  water  from  Carlingford,  the  army  resumed  its 
way,  starting  early  that  the  tide  might  not  impede  their  progress. 
They  had  observed  on  the  previous  day  their  enemies  crossing  the 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  583 

hills,  and  expected  that  their  march  would  be  harassed  if  not  blocked 
b}'  them  where  the  ground  served.  Tyrone,  surprised  when  he  learnt 
of  the  change  of  route,  hastened  by  secret  paths  to  gain  the  Carling- 
ford  Pace.  Little  time  was  left  for  constructing  lines  of  defence,  or 
under  circumstances  wholly  unexpected,  to  prepare  for  an  engage- 
ment with  an  army  vastly  superior  in  numbers  to  his  own,  better 
armed,  in  perfect  array,  and  organized  for  the  occasion.  Entrench- 
ments were  thrown  up  in  front  of  the  wood,  which,  except  along  the 
sea,  circled  the  open  space.  The  small  stream  which  bounded  it  on 
the  north  served  for  a  moat,  and  a  barricado  hastily  constructed 
along  its  southerly  limits  and  extending  from  the  water  some  distance 
into  the  wood,  constituted  a  formidable  barrier  if  bravely  defended. 

His  army  about  equalled  in  numbers  that  of  Thermopylae,  includ- 
ing the  auxiliaries.  Both  were  less  than  they  should  have  been  in 
consequence  of  the  defection  of  their  respective  countrymen.  Many 
of  the  Greeks  were  in  attendance  on  their  sacred  games.  These  the 
Irish  once  had  at  Tailtan  or  the  Curragh,  which  English  occupation 
had  brought  to  an  end.  But  many  of  them  were  engaged  elsewhere 
in  military  service.  Both  battles  were  bravely  contested  ;  but  Eng- 
lish foes  were  of  tougher  material  than  Medes  or  Persians,  and 
the  superiority  of  arms  was  reversed.  Tyrone  drew  up  his  infantry 
and  cavalry  on  the  open  space  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  hostile 
columns,  which,  that  day,  consisted  of  two  bodies,  van  and  rear,  each 
two  thousand  strong,  under  experienced  commanders.  Berry,  St. 
Lawrence,  Morrison  and  Bagnal.  They  soon  appeared  and  crossed 
the  stream,  though  not  without  opposition.  But  when  they  reached 
the  plain  the  catholic  army  had  disappeared  from  sight,  the  horse 
into  the  forests,  the  foot  behind  their  entrenchments,  whence  they 
poured  volley  after  volley  in  rapid  succession  into  the  dense  ranks  of 
their  assailants. 

Many  fell,  but  the  English  had  learned  much  since  their  defeat  at 
Glenmalure,  in  forcing  their  way  through  defiles  or  dealing  with 


584  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

ambuscades.  Such  a  contingency  had  ah'eady  been  provided  for,  and 
three  strong  detachments  selected  from  the  rest,  under  Billings, 
Esmond  and  Constable,  rushed  without  hesitation  at  the  several  de- 
fences at  the  points  assigned  to  them.  The  catholics  did  their  best 
vpith  pike  and  svvcrd  when  their  powder  was  expended,  or  the  close 
struggle  prevented  reloading,  but  overwhelmed  by  numbers  finally  gave 
way  and  abandoned  even  the  barricade  lest  their  retreat  should  be  cut 
off.  Their  chief  directed  their  movements  from  an  eminence  on  the 
edge  of  the  wood,  beneath  which  the  fight  was  most  hotly  and  fiercely 
contested,  and  an  officer  on  whose  shoulder  he  leant  fell  mortally 
wounded  by  a  ball,  intended  for  himself,  fired  by  Blount's  own 
henchman  at  his  command. 

The  cavalry,  retiring  through  the  woods,  gained  the  rear  of  the 
enemy,  composed  of  Irish  auxiliaries  mounted,  where  Bagnal  the 
marshal  commanded.  Caulfield,  Constable  and  young  Blount,  des- 
patched to  strengthen  what  is  apt  to  offer  a  vulnerable  point  for  attack, 
maintained  for  half  an  hour  the  combat  with  them  with  varied  suc- 
cess, when  the  catholic  army  emerging  from  the  woods  into  a  plain, 
were  set  upon  by  Davers  and  broke.  This  ended  the  battle,  the 
royalists  hastening  their  steps  towards  Dundalk,  the  catholics  back 
to  the  north.  Different  accounts  transmitted  of  the  loss  sustained 
on  either  side,  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  about  equal,  two 
hundred  each.  The  catholics,  in  the  campaign,  lost  eight  hundred 
that  ill  could  be  spared ;  the  royalist  writers  estimate  their  own 
killed  and  wounded  at  six  hundred,  soon  made  good  by  the  cure  of 
the  hurt,  or  fresh  recruits.  Among  the  prisoners,  Cormac,  nephew 
of  Tyrone  and  his  designated  successor  as  chief,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  deputy,  who  refused  three  thousand  pounds  offered  for  his 
ransom.  Sad  to  relate,  many  Irish  catholics  fought  that  day  against 
their  own  side,  and  one  of  them  Conor  Roe  Maguire,  whose 
valiant  predecessor  not  long  before  had  fallen,  as  related,  in  combat 
mutually  deadly  with  St.  Leger.     The  deputy  provided  winter  quar- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  585 

tcrs  for  his  army,  and  on  the  seventeenth,  repaired  to  the  capital  in 
great  glory  and  honor.  The  queen  wrote  in  terms  of  }>ceuliar  en- 
dearment that  he  must  never  doubt  her  affection,  or  heed  what  ill 
nature  might  say  to  his  prejudice.* 

Whilst  the  army  was  absent  at  the  north,  the  neighboring  septs 
kept  the  suburbs  of  Dublin  alarmed  by  frequent  raids.  Tyrrell,  with 
forces  from  the  north,  devastated  Kildare,  Carlow  and  Tippcrary, 
taking  castles,  prisoners  and  spoil,  creating  great  havoc.  The  deputy 
after  a  few  weeks  of  official  duty,  again  took  the  field.  Giving 
out  tliat  Leix  and  Ophaly  were  his  objective  points,  he  speedily 
crossed  the  snow  covered  mountains  to  the  abode  of  Phelim,  chief 
of  the  O'Byrnes,  who  escaped  into  the  woods  but  left  his  family  and 
Christmas  repast  to  the  deputy.  Twenty  daj^s  were  spent  in  wast- 
ing Ranelagh  and  Cashry,  herds,  houses  and  corn.  Planting  garri- 
sons at  AVicklow  and  Tullogh,  Blount  visited  Kildare,  then  deserted, 
jNIaynooth,  occupied  by  jNIabel  the  ancient  countess  of  Kildare,  and 
the  castle  of  Trim  which  he  chose  for  his  own  abode.  The  next 
month  he  passed  through  Meath  to  Athlone,  tarrying  as  the  guest  of 
Trimlestown,  Delvin  and  Dillon,  pressing  heavily  on  their  hospitality 
as  his  escort  consisted  of  five  hundred  men.  He  wrote  Carew  ur- 
gently for  a  thousand  more,  which  the  president  might  well  spare, 
since  he  held  as  pledges  for  the  peace  of  his  province  the  child  or 
next  of  kin  of  nearly  all  its  chieftains,  and  recognizances  from  the 
less  powerful.  On  the  nineteenth  of  March  he  reached  Denoar,  the 
castle  of  Mageoghan,  and  after  driving  Tyrrell  out  of  his  fastnesses 
into  the  borders  of  Leix,  where  he  in  vain  endeavored  to  capture 
him,  he  wasted  Feruey,  and  four  weeks  later  was  upon  his  return 
from  Drogheda  to  the  capital.  By  his  activity,  and  that  in  winter, 
be  had.disproved  Tyrone's  prediction  of  his  military  inaptitude,  and 
deserved  the  high  estimate  formed  of  his  generalship  by  English 
writers. 

•  She  addressed  him  as  her  "  dear  kitchen  maid." 
74 


586  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

The  border  chiefs  exposed  to  aggression  from  the  pale,  with  the 
sanction  of  Tyrone,  submitted  to  the  deputy,  who,  upon  his  return  to 
Dublin,  entertained  them  at  the  feast  of  St.  George.  O'Hanlon, 
Turlogh  of  the  Fews,  Ever  MacCooly  chief  of  Ferney,  Daniel  Span- 
iagh  of  the  Cavanaghs,  Felim  O'Byrne,  to  reciprocate  his  Christmas 
banquet,  and  other  chiefs  were  his  guests  ;  his  colonels  and  captains 
serving  the  meal  or  tending  upon  the  table.  Blount,  as  repre- 
sentative of  royalty  on  this  state  occasion,  perhaps  hoped  to  conciliate 
respect  for  authority,  by  such  an  example  of  subservience  to  the 
crown.  It  probably  had  its  effect  in  flattering  the  pride  of  chieftains 
welcomed  as  equals  of  sovereignity.  Could  they  have  read  the 
correspondence  of  the  period  and  known  that  this  welcome  was  one  to 
hospitable  graves,  that  in  the  field  their  clansmen  were  exposed  to 
especial  danger  to  thin  their  numbers,  and  that  their  host  advised  the 
queen  to  send  them  into  foreign  service,  inasmuch  as  they  could  not 
there  become  better  soldiers,  but  would  in  all  likelihood  perish  and 
never  return  to  plague  her,  they  would  have  taken  less  pleasure  in 
these  festive  splendors. 

The  destruction  of  the  crops  was  already  working  its  purpose. 
Before  the  year  was  over,  families  were  perishing  from  famine, 
dying  with  their  mouths  green  from  the  nettles  and  weeds  on  which 
they  endeavored  to  appease  their  hunger.  In  the  hope  of  quicken- 
ing the  work  the  queen,  with  Cecil  to  advise,  called  in  all  the  coin 
of  the  English  or  debased  Irish  standard,  substituting  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  what  was  greatly  inferior  in  value,  and  which 
from  doubt  of  what  it  actually  was  worth  soon  ceased  to  be  taken  even 
at  that.  The  army  first  suffered,  then  the  tradesmen.  Confidence 
at  an  end  in  money,  interchange  of  commodities  one  for  another 
grew  sluggish,  and  trade  lost  its  animation.  It  wrought  even  greater 
prejudice  to  its  inventors  than  those  against  whom  it  was  aimed,  for 
Irish  trade  with  foreign  lands  was  less  interrupted,  and  Spanish 
gold  extensively  circulated  through  the  seaports.     But  that  it  con_ 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  587 

tributed  with  other  diaboHcal  measures  of  the  crown  to  create  the 
wide-spread  distress  which  crippled  resistance,  seems  generally  ad- 
mitted. 

Arthur  O'Xeil  derived  no  personal  advantage  from  betraying  his 
country  for  his  own  aggrandizement.  Fever  killed  him  in  October, 
and  Turlogh  his  son  accepted  by  government  as  heir  to  his  promised 
reward  w'hen  the  war  ended  was  forgotten,  and  Hugh  remained  un- 
disturbed. Nial  obtained  no  better  treatment,  for  set  aside  on  the 
pretext  that  he  had  swerved  from  his  obedience,  Rory  succeeding  his 
brother  red  Hugh,  after  his  death,  became  earl  of  Tyrconnel.  Nial 
deserved  well  his  designation  of  roug-h  and  often  o-ave  offence.  O'Don- 
nel  aware  of  his  unpopularity,  and  thinking  his  enemies  all  venal, 
for  he  had  bought  a  deputy  himself  when  regaining  his  liberty,  sent 
Hugh  and  Phelim  Macdavid  to  Culmore  with  wares  to  dispose  of, 
instructed  if  opportunity  offered  to  propose  to  Alford  in  command 
to  give  up  the  place  with  Nial  in  it,  for  a  large  pension  from  Spain, 
with  money  and  a  gold  chain  in  hand.  Dowcra  received  the  chain, 
but  the  chief  discovered  in  season  that  the  trap  was  set  for  himself. 

John  Doherty  dying  at  Christmas,  O'Donnel,  according  to  laws  of 
tanistry,  recognized  his  brother  Phelim  as  chief,  neglecting  his  son 
Cahir  to  the  great  indignation  of  the  Macdavids  by  whom  he  had 
been  bred  and  fostered.  Notwithstanding  their  abortive  intrigue 
with  Alford  they  agreed  with  Dowcra  that  if  Cahir  were  confirmed 
as  chief  and  made  independent  of  O'Donnel,  they  and  all  they  could 
influence  would  do  good  service.  The  promise  -was  made,  the  ser- 
vices rendered  and  faith  broken.  Absolving  Inishowen  from  fealty 
to  Tyrconnel  still  further  exasperated  the  irascible  Nial.  That  was 
also  his  rightful  inheritance,  and  he  claimed  into  Tyrone,  Ferman- 
agh and  Connaught,  and  whatever  appertained  to  his  chieftainry. 

MacSweeney  Fanad,  separated  by  an  arm  of  the  sea  from  O 'Doherty, 
spoiled  by  the  royalists  of  a  thousand  cows,  professed  allegiance  to 
recover  them.    Dowcra,  helped  by  Nial,  reduced  as  the  spring  opened, 


588  TEANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

castle  Derg  in  Tyrone.  O'Donnel,  in  May,  with  fifteen  hundred  men 
hoping  to  take  the  enemy  unprepared,  invaded  Inishowen  where  the 
partisans  of  Cahir  had  in  guard  at  Binnen,  on  a  tongue  of  land  jut- 
ting out  towards  Scotland  and  protected  by  the  old  castle  of  Cargan, 
three  thousand  head  of  cattle  belonging  principally  to  the  forts. 
Contingents  from  Connaught  declining  to  take  their  appointed  place 
in  the  front  of  his  battle  array,  the  chief  with  his  own  men  broke 
into  the  defences  of  the  enemy.  They  contrived  to  escape  to  where 
their  cattle  and  men  were  defended  by  heavy  guns  and  strong  walls. 
His  own  force  reduced  by  desertion  of  his  followers  and  powerless 
against  them  without  artillery,  O'Donnel  disappeared. 

Still,  whilst  Tyrconnel  could  at  will  raid  the  west  for  food,  or 
join  the  Spaniards  now  expected  there  or  further  south  in  force, 
the  urgency  of  some  stronghold,  such  as  Ballyshannon,  to  clip  his 
wings  became  more  than  ever  apparent.  The  country  around 
swarmed  with  doughty  warriors.  O'Rourke  with  eight  hundred, 
Eedmond  Burke  with  six  hundred,  O'Malleys  and  O'Flahertys  as 
strong,  awaited  in  arms  the  signal  to  combine  their  colors.  It  had 
not  been  given,  and  they  were  far  apart  when  Flower  despatched 
by  the  deputy  at  an  opportune  moment,  gathered  on  his  way  the 
hostings  of  Thomond  and  Clanrickard,  and  in  an  encounter  at 
Quin,  Teigue  O'Brien  and  the  MacWilliam,  son  of  the  black  abbot, 
were  slain.  Carew  with  the  rest  of  his  army  lined  the  stream  to 
Athlone,  and  when  the  fugitives  short  of  food,  fearing  to  be 
hemmed  in  by  a  superior  force,  were  fighting  their  way  down  to 
the  boats  of  O'Madden  to  cross,  they  found  their  path  blocked,  and 
on  the  eighteenth  of  May  in  passing  over  the  Suck  two  hundred 
were  drowned  and  much  of  their  ba2:2:ag'e  and  munition  lost.  Dis- 
heartened  the  clansmen  dispersed  to  their  homes  ;  the  stranger  chiefs 
with  their  aiTay  shrivelling  up  under  disaster,  sought  safety  with 
friends  or  in  concealment.  The  country  clear,  Boyle  and  Athlone 
were  strengthened  to  facilitate  the  main  design  as  the  prospect 
improved. 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN,  589 

In  May,  Newton  four  miles  from  Lifford,  another  month  Ainough 
castle  of  the  O'Kanes,  were  occupied,  both  the  year  after  recovered 
by  the  catholics,  and  in  July  the  deputy  sent  for  Dowcra  to  hasten 
to  meet  him  at  the  Blackwatcr,  who  having  no  matches  for  his  match- 
locks could  not  go.  Tyrconnel  and  his  chiefs  lying  in  wait  for  his 
coming  had  left  the  abbey  of  Donegal,  near  the  sea,  unprotected. 
Nial  Garve  with  five  hundred  English  soldiers  and  other  troops  was 
sent  to  take  it.  The  deputy  retiring,  O'Donncl  laid  siege  to  the  abbey 
which  on  the  sixteenth  of  September  took  fire.  The  garrison  removed 
food  and  powder  to  a  corner  out  of  reach  of  the  flames  which  raged 
through  the  night,  the  fight  unremitted,  and  when  the  moment 
seemed  ripe  O'Donnel  burst  in.  Tlie  defenders  fought  bravely; 
nearly  a  thousand  perished.  The  catholics  delaying  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  burning  building,  they  escaped  by  a  hidden  way  to  a 
smaller  monastery  near,  which  they  defended.  Clanrickard  sought 
to  raise  the  siege  by  an  im^oad  upon  Elphin,  but  O'Donnel  went 
to  meet  him  and  the  earl  went  home.  The  Ulster  chiefs  in  May 
had  sent  O'Rourk,  Leitrim  and  Duhallo  with  more  than  a  thousand 
men  to  help  Desmond.  Duhallo  was  slain  by  a  ball  from  the  way- 
side, and  it  being  rumored  that  Desmond  was  captured  they  stopped. 
Clanrickard  attacked  them  and  died  within  fifteen  days,  it  is  said,  of 
wounds  received  in  the  combat.  His  son  Richard,  the  fourth  earl, 
succeeded,*  and  it  wat  him  that  O'Donnel  drove  home. 

Eager  to  be  doing,  perhaps  to  keep  them  effective,  Blount  with 
three  thousand  men  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  May  had  marched  to  Faug- 
hard  and  constructed  a  fort.     Three  weeks  later  he  proceeded  by  the 

*  Ulick,  third  earl,  besides  his  daughter  Honora,  who  married  Malby,  had  by  his  wife 
Margaret  Fitzallen,  wliom  he  married  in  1564,  five  sons,  who  grew  to  manhood.  Thomas, 
the  third,  commanded  fifteen  liumh-ed  foot  in  tlie  army  of  Elizabeth  ;  William,  the  fourth, 
whose  wife  was  daugliter  of  Sir  James  MacSorleboy  MacDonnel,  was  father  of  Richard, 
the  sixth  earl,  who  died  16^)6,  and  of  William  the  seventh,  in  1683;  John,  the  fifth,  viscount 
Clanmorris,  died  163-5.  Richard,  tlie  second  son,  who  succeeded  his  father  as  fourth  earl, 
called  of  Kinsale,  from  his  services  at  the  siege,  married  Frances  Walsingham,  widow  of 
Philip  Svdney,  killed  at  Zutjihen,  and  of  Robert,  earl  of  Essex,  beheaded  Feb.  1601.  His 
son,  Ulick,  1604-1657,  created  marquis  1644,  played  an  important  part  in  the  Cromwellian 
wars.  He  left  an  only  child,  Margaret,  wife  of  lord  Muskerry,  killed  in  the  sea-fight  of 
1665,  mother  of  Charles,  second  earl  of  Claucarthy,  who  died  young  in  1666. 


590  TRANSFEE     OF    ERIN. 

IMoyry  pass  to  Newiy ;  thence  lie  marched  east  into  the  territory  of 
Evagh  MacGuinness,  planting  a  garrison  under  Morrison  at  Lecale. 
Seven  miles  beyond,  the  fortress  of  Dundrum,  considered  impregnable, 
was  surrendered  by  Phelim  O'Neil,  and  he  passed  on  through  the 
country  of  MacCartan,  by  Downpatrick,  six  miles  to  Ardglas. 
Here  he  relieved  Jordan  who,  for  three  years,  had  been  shut  up  in 
the  castle.  Passing  through  Russeltown  he  encamped  at  Blackstalf, 
and  thence  on  the  nineteenth  marched  by  Five-mile-church  to  Car- 
rickbane,  north  of  Newry.  Tyrone  occasionally  appeared  in  sight, 
but  not  opposing,  probably  holding  himself  in  reserve  against  the 
Spaniards  came. 

The  fourteenth  of  July,  the  deputy  at  the  Blackwater  wrote  Dowcra, 
as  mentioned  above,  to  join  him  from  Derry.  Dowcra  came  down 
within  sixteen  miles  on  the  north  of  Dungannon.  Blount  approached 
it  somewhat  nearer  from  the  south.  It  was  too  well  defended  for 
successful  attack,  and  the  catholic  authorities  say  he  sustained  a 
severe  repulse  when  he  attempted  it.  For  want  of  matches  Dowcra 
could  come  no  nearer.  Tyrone,  avoiding  a  pitched  battle,  kept  aloof. 
Skirmishes  occasionally  occurred,  and  in  one  Peter  Lacy  was  killed. 
On  the  twenty-second  of  August,  the  deputy  was  still  at  Newry,  and 
a  few  days  later  at  Millifout,  on  his  way  to  meet  the  council  at 
Trim.  On  the  fifteenth  of  September  at  Kilkenny,  in  daily  expect- 
ation of  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  he  organized  his  army,  largely 
reinforced  from  England,  to  oppose  them.  Three  thousand  he  had 
left  at  the  north,  to  watch  and  block  the  movements  of  Tyrone. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  591 


XLV. 
REIGN   OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 

The  end  approached.  Rumors  of  succor  from  Spain  were  rife 
in  the  seaports,  and  assuming  definite  form  occupy  considerable 
space  in  correspondence  preserved.  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  had 
proceeded  together  at  Christmas  to  the  western  shores,  to  receive  and 
divide  gold  and  munitions  of  war,  promise  of  more  to  follow  v.-ith 
an  army  to  aid.  But  absolute  monarchies,  if  sufficiently  arbitrary, 
are  not  always  very  prompt  or  energetic.  Philip  was  easily  beaten 
by  Cecil  in  the  game  of  European  diplomacy.  False  reports  pur- 
posely set  afloat  and  industriously  circulated,  tool:  time  for  contra- 
diction, and  the  king,  however  eager  to  resent  or  retaliate  interfer- 
ence with  his  own  provinces,  on  the  part  of  the  queen  and  the 
protestants,  was  engrossed  either  with  the  duties  and  pleasures  of 
his  court,  or  with  the  affairs  of  his  extensive  dominions. 

His  subordinates,  with  their  own  objects  to  be  furthered  by 
delay,  procrastinated  where  they  could,  and  preparations  for  the  Irish 
expedition  grew  fitful  and  sluggish.  Vessels  were  equipped,  food 
and  arms  collected,  ten  thousand  troops  levied  or  organized ;  but 
these  extensive  armaments  melted  away,  diverted  to  other  purposes, 
the  men  perishing  by  disease  or  wearied  of  the  service  deserting. 
Their  place  was  to  be  supplied,  and  new  recruits  to  be  drilled  and 
disciplined.  As  the  case  with  the  armada,  the  fitting  moment  flitted 
by  unimproved.  When  the  fleet  sailed  the  force  it  carried  was 
grossly  inadequate  to  the  undertaking,  and  when,  after  being  shat- 
tered by  storms  on  the  ocean,  the  remnant  reached  the  Irish  coast 
and  landed  less  than  three  thousand  men,  with  a  few  small  guns,  an 
expression  of  utter  disappointment  the  chiefs,  who  had  long  been  fed 
with  sanguine  expectations  of  achieving  independence  through  S^san- 
ish  help,  could  hardly  restrain. 


592  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

What  followed  is  variously  represented  by  the  authorities  on  either 
side.  We  follow  principally  the  catholic  historian  of  the  war, 
1587-1602,  whose  work,  though  not  translated  from  the  Latin,  rests 
upon  relations  made  to  him  by  the  leaders  who  took  jjart,  especially 
by  his  own  father,  one  of  the  most  efficient  of  them  all.  It  has  been 
generally  accepted  as  a  faithful  account  of  what  actually  occurred. 
"Whatever  else  exists  available,  Carew,  Morrison  and  the  calendars, 
has  been  compared  with  his  statements,  and  where  proceeding  from 
sources  of  information  not  within  his  reach,  has  been  interwoven  in 
the  narrative. 

Early  summer  had  found  the  expedition  in  readiness  to  take  its 
departure  under  protection  of  a  fleet,  when  peremptory  orders  came 
to  the  admiral,  Brochero,  to  proceed  forthwith  to  Terceira  with  his 
men-of-war,  and  convoy  home  the  American  treasure  ships.  Upon 
his  return  fleet  and  army  rendezvoused  at  Lisbon,  the  troops,  thirty- 
five  hundred  in  number,  in  transpoi'ts  under  command  of  Juan  de 
Aquila,  who  had  made  many  blunders  and  whose  military  record  w^as 
not  brilliant.  There  were  forty-five  ships  in  all,  and  when  in  mid- 
ocean,  overtaken  by  heavy  storms,  they  were  dispersed.  Seven 
vessels  under  Zubiar  driven  back,  took  refuge  in  Corunna.  The  rest 
gathering  -to  the  flagship,  reached  Kinsale  on  the  twenty-third  of 
September.  Its  harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Blackwater  opened  to 
the  south,  guarded  on  the  east  by  the  castle  of  Rincorran,  on  the 
west  by  the  Castle-ni-Park,  both  of  them  separated  from  the  town 
by  the  river.  Had  these  strongholds  been  properly  armed  and  gar- 
risoned, approach  from  the  sea  would  have  been  more  difiicult. 

The  town  had  greatly  suflfered  in  the  Desmond  wars.  It  contained 
about  two  hundred  houses,  several  castles  and  churches,  and  was 
environed  by  hills  of  no  great  elevation.  Its  shattered  walls  poorly 
reconstructed,  could  afford  little  resistance  to  heavy  guns.  An  island 
in  the  harbor  might  have  been  fortified,  but  its  communications  with 
the  main  were  liable  to  interruption  by  a  hostile  fleet,   and  fresh 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  593 

water  could  only  be  procured  in  sufficient  quantity  by  pinnaces  sent 
up  into  the  country.  North  of  the  town  rose  an  eminence  called  the 
Spittal,  available  to  those  who  occupied  it  for  assailing  or  defending 
the  place,  for  which  latter  purpose  the  river  also  proved  of  service. 
The  English  garrison,  consisting  of  about  fifty  men  under  Saxey,  were 
withdrawn  to  Cork  upon  arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  Aquila  disembark- 
ing, marched  his  men  under  forty  captains  into  the  place,  at  the  gates 
of  which  they  were  cordially  welcomed  by  the  inhabitants,  staunch 
catholics,  ^v\\o  put  them  in  full  possession  of  its  defences.  The  com- 
mander, led  to  expect  large  and  immediate  accessions  from  home  and 
the  neighboring  septs,  and  to  take  the  field  without  delay,  made  little 
effort  to  strengthen  the  works.  Four  small  guns  were  landed,  as 
also  their  supplies  in  much  haste  from  the  fleet,  when  it  sailed  away 
to  avoid  attack  for  which  it  was  ill  prepared.  A  battalion  with  one 
of  these  guns  occupied  Rincorran,  but  there  was  a  deficiency  of  ord- 
nance which  by  some  fatality  had  been  laden  upon  the  ships  blown 
home  by  the  storm,  and  their  heavy  burden  probably  explains  their 
not  proceeding  with  the  rest. 

Aquila,  and  Ovieto,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  who  accompanied  him, 
were  not  always  of  one  mind,  and  the  former  possibly  was  not  the 
least  in  fault.  His  temper,  irascible  and  unreasonable,  offended  and 
discouraged  the  few  chiefs  who  responded  with  alacrity  to  his  call. 
Donal  Coom  O'Sullivan,*  prince  of  Beare  and  Bantry,  sent  him  word 
that  he  was  on  his  way  with  two  thousand  of  his  followers,  one-half 
of  whom  only  were  armed,  and  requesting  weapons  for  the  rest  that 
he  might  engage  the  attention  of  the  deputy  and  delay  the  siege  until 
the  northern  chiefs  arrived.     This  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  com- 

*  Donal  Coom,  1560-1680,  son  of  Donal,  prince  of  Beare  (killed  1-563),  by  Sarah  O'Brien, 
daughter  of  Sir  Donald  and  Slany,  daughter  of  the  first  earl  of  TJiomond,  was  elected 
prince  of  Beare  in  1692.  His  grandfither,  Derniot,  who  died  1549,  at  his  castle  of  Dunhoy, 
married  Julia,  daughter  of  Donal  Reagh  of  Carliery,  l)y  Eh'nor,  daugliter  of  the  eighth 
earl  of  Kildare.  Bv  Ellen,  daughter  of  O'Sullivan  Moore  and  the  sister  of  Florence  Mac- 
Carthy,  Donal  Coom  had  two  sons.  Dermot,  count  of  Bearehavcn,  represented  Spain  in 
1642  at  Kilkenny,  and  according  to  Smith's  History  of  Cork,  his  descendants  were  heredi- 
tary governors  of  the  Groyne  a  century  later. 

75 


594  TKANSFEROFERIN. 

mander  to  grant,  as  the  arms  intended  for  the  Irish  were  likewise  in 
the  missing  ships. 

Blount,  in  a  personal  interview,  had  concerted  measures  with 
Carew,  and  when  intelligence  reached  him  that  the  Spaniards  had 
disembarked,  he  proceeded  south  from  Kilkenny,  giving  orders  to 
collect  the  army.  Attended  by  a  few  of  his  council  he  reached  Cork 
on  the  twenty-eighth  of  September,  and  after  reconnoitering  the  enemy, 
advanced  to  Awnsby  bridge,  midway  between  Cork  and  Kinsale, 
where  Florence  fought  his  battle.  Both  generals  appealed  to  the 
people  by  proclamation  to  invite  cooperation.  The  insincerity  of 
the  inducements  held  out  by  the  deputy  is  curiously  displayed  in  his 
letters  home.  The  late  desolating  warfare  had  left  large  numbers  of 
the  chiefs  and  their  followers  without  subsistence.  He  proposed  to 
take  them  into  the  queen's  pay  and  use  them  hard  against  the  Span- 
iards, and  throw  them  over  when  they  had  accomplished  their  work. 
Paid  in  debased  coin,  it  would  be  more  rapidly  circulated  to  the 
weakening  of  the  country,  which  would  be  furthered  by  forcing  them 
to  obtain  their  own  supplies.  If  they  declined  to  serve,  when  the 
war  ended  they  would  be  more  completely  in  their  power.  When  at 
last  in  sufficient  strength  to  commence  the  siege,  he  advanced  within 
half  a  mile  of  the  town.  Cormac  MacDermot,  the  new  lord  of  Mus- 
kerry ,  joinedhim,  and  his  adhesion  was  ostentatiously  paraded.  Other 
troops  from  England  or  the  north  flocked  in,  and  entrenching  on  the 
Spittal,  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  October,  his  batteries  sent  by  sea  were 
planted,  and  soon  after  the  month  ended  Rincorran  surrendered. 

Meanwhile  O'Donnel,  leaving  the  siege  of  Donegal  on  the  first  of 
October,  with  his  brothers  Rory  and  Calvagh  gathered  his  allies, 
O'Rourke,  O'Doherty,  O'Boyle,  MacDonoghs,  MacDermot,  Mac- 
Sweeny  Tuath,  O'Kelly,  two  sons  of  O'Connor  Roe,  O'Flaherties, 
Redmond  Burke  and  his  brother  William,  Donal  O'Conor  Sligo, 
Dermot  Moyl  brother  of  Florence,  and  others,  with  three  thousand 
troops,  four  hundred  of  them  horse,  and  marched  to  aid  Aquila.    He 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  595 

crossed  the  Shannon  at  Artcroch  into  Fircal,  and  at  INIoydrum,  in 
Ikerrin,  halted  twenty  days  for  Tyrone.  He  had  reached  Holy  cross, 
when  Carew,  sent  from  the  camp  of  the  deputy  on  the  seventh  of 
November,  having  under  his  command,  when  reinforced  by  Barry  and 
Bourke,  thirty-five  hundred  foot  and  four  hundi*ed  horse,  hearing  at 
Cashel  of  his  approach  endeavored  to  waylay  him,  blocking  the 
roads  and  passes  with  a  view  of  bringing  him  to  battle.  Tyr- 
connel  had  other  objects,  and  kindling  wide-spread  camp  fires 
to  convey  a  mistaken  impression  of  his  numbers  and  position, 
marched  safely  by  the  president,  and  sudden  frost  stiffening  the  bogs, 
on  the  twenty-third  of  November  crossed  the  mountains,  thirty -two 
miles  in  the  night,  by  Owny  and  Crom,  to  the  gates  of  Limerick, 
and  thence  south-westerly  into  Hy-connel-gaura.  He  took  posses- 
sion as  he  went  of  Ardfert,  Ballykealy  and  Lixnaw,  their  lord  visit- 
ing Clanmaurice,  his  dominion,  and  John  O'Conor  Kerry  repossessing 
himself  of  Carrygophoyle.  Tyrconnel  again  halted  at  different  stages 
of  his  progress,  to  effect  a  junction  with  O'Neil.  Carew,  outgener- 
alled,  not  wishing  to  be  cut  off  from  Kinsale,  hastened  back. 

After  the  surrender  of  Eincorran,  a  battery  placed  near  by  com- 
manded the  Spanish  lines  on  that  side  of  Kinsale.  Thomond  landing 
at  Castlehaven  with  one  thousand  reinforcements  from  England, 
reached  the  camp  on  the  fifteenth ;  on  which  day  admirals  Levison 
and  Preston  with  the  deet,  and  two  thousand  more,  entered  the  har- 
bor. The  former  with  his  men,  much  disordered  by  their  voyage, 
were  ordered  to  Cork,  and  soon  after,  with  his  cavalry,  the  earl 
himself  joined  Carew,  returning  with  him  and  Clanrickard  on  the 
twenty-fifth  to  the  camp.  Castle-ni-Park,  commanded  by  the  fleet, 
after  a  vigorous  defence  had  been  forced  to  yield  on  the  twentieth,  and 
the  approaches,  notwithstanding  the  severe  frost  and  constant  volleys 
from  the  besieged,  were  drawn  nearer  to  the  town.  The  heavier 
artillery  of  the  royalists  played  incessantly  upon  the  walls  and  battle- 
ments till  their  pieces  were  crazed  with  the  heat,   and  sorties  and 


596  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

skirmishes  were  constantly  taking  place  with  varied  fortune,  two 
hundred  of  the  Spaniards  being  killed  in  one  warmly  contested. 

After  an  ineiFectual  summons  on  the  twenty-eighth,  batteries  were 
planted  against  the  gate  and  wall  west  of  it,  when  the  night  of  the 
second  of  December,  which  was  rainy  and  dark,  the  Spaniards  came 
out  in  force,  but  after  heavy  loss  were  driven  back.  When  intelli- 
gence of  the  arrival  of  the  missing  ships  with  troops,  at  Castlehaven, 
reached  the  camp,  confirmed  by  a  Scotch  captain  who  treacherously 
brought  eighty  of  them  into  Cork,  the  fire  was  slackened,  the  guns 
withdrawn  to  protect  the  lines,  and  two  additional  works  thrown  up 
to  complete  the  investiture  of  the  town. 

Early  in  December,  Zubiar  with  his  seven  vessels  approached  too 
close  the  rock  bound  coast,  near  Castlehaven,  for  safety.  The  five 
O'Driscol  brothei's,  sons  of  the  chief,  extricated  them  from  their 
danger,  and  delivered  up  their  castles,  Dermod,  who  spoke  their 
language,  explaining  the  state  of  affairs.  Levison  with  his  fleet  des- 
patched from  Kinsale,  well  armed,  ably  commanded  and  in  greatly 
superior  numbers,  attacked  the  cruisers  under  the  marquis  of  Santa 
Cruce,  as  well  as  the  transports  not  designed  for  battle  and  out  of 
condition  from  their  recent  voyage,  as  also  the  town  and  the  castle 
which  had  no  artillery  to  defend  them.  The  English  were  about  to 
land,  when  the  Spanish  commander  realizing  his  danger  wrote  urgently 
to  the  prince  of  Beare  to  come  to  his  rescue. 

That  chief  with  his  uncle  Dermod,  an  able  officer  with  much  experi- 
ence in  warfare,  marched  with  five  hundred  foot  and  some  horse  from 
Bantry ,  fifteen  miles  distant,  the  same  day,  arriving  as  the  English  were 
leaping  from  their  boats  to  crush  the  handfull  of  Spaniards  ashore. 
O'Driscol  Mor  with  his  son  Cornelius,  O'Donovan  and  some  of  the 
Maccarthy  chiefs  joined  them.  Zubiar  disembarking  five  of  his 
guns  battered  the  English  fleet  for  two  days,  raking  their  ships  from 
bow  to  stern  with  a  heavy  fire,  penetrating  their  hulls  with  three 
hundred  shot,  killing  sixty  men  in  the  flagship  of  the  admiral,  five 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  597 

Imndred  and  seventy-five  in  all,  when  the  fleet  discomfited  warped 
out,  and  the  wind  favoring,  sailed  away.  O'Sullivan  delivered  up 
to  Saavedra,  with  food  for  two  months,  his  principal  castle  of  Dun- 
boy.  It  was  supplied  with  guns,  balls,  powder,  lead  and  gunrope, 
sent  by  water  from  Castlehaven.  Its  harbor,  safe  and  frequented 
from  ancient  times  by  ships  from  Spain,  from  which  circumstances, 
tradition  says,  it  had  derived  its  name  of  Bearehaven,  was  easy  of 
access  for  friends  but  difficult  for  enemies.  O'Driscol  also  admitted 
Spanish  garrisons  into  his  castles.  After  the  fleet  returned  to  Kin- 
sale,  stormy  weather  for  the  fortnight  ensuing  impeded  siege  opera- 
tions, when  on  the  twenty-first  the  scouts  reported  the  approach  of 
the  army  of  relief. 

O'Xeil  had  not  been  dilatory,  but  various  embarrassments  had  delayed 
his  movements.  He  marched,  the  eighth  of  November,  into  Meath, 
and  though  opposed  raided  the  country,  English  and  Anglo-Irish, 
and  in  a  combat  provoked  by  Darsy  Platen  killed  him,  and  having 
collected  much  spoil  carried  it  home.  He  could  not  leave  his  dominions 
unprotected,  or  without  adequate  supplies  of  food  and  ammunition  for 
those  he  left  to  defend  them,  or  who  were  to  accompany  his  march,  since 
Dow^cra  had  an  effective  force  in  Derry,  and  towards  the  pale  the 
garrisons  were  numerous  and  aggressive.  The  Avinter  had  already 
set  in  when  he  at  last  started  to  march  two  hundred  miles  to  Kiusale. 
MacMahon,  Maguire,  brother  of  the  cliief  killed  at  Cork  by  St. 
Leger,  Randal  MacDonnel  prince  of  Glynn,  Fitzmaurice  baron  of 
Lixnaw,  Richard  Tyrrell  and  others  of  his  family  accompanied  him, 
their  whole  force  numbering  twenty-six  hundred  foot  and  four  hun- 
dred horse.  Following  O'Donnel  into  Barry  orrery  they  encamped 
together  at  Belgooly,  in  Kinalea,  organizing  their  array.  Thither 
came  Donal  Coom,  prince  of  Beare,  w^ith  his  clansmen  and  three 
hundred  Spaniards  from  Zubiar,  under  O'Campo.  With  Donal 
came  likewise  O'Conor  Kerry,  Daniel  son  of  O'Sullivan  Mor,  Daniel 
MacS weeny  and  other  knights. 


598  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Without  longer  delay  the  catholic  army  advanced  towards  Kinsale, 
pitching  their  camp,  protected  by  entrenchments,  one  mile  and 
a  half  from  the  town  on  the  road  from  Cork,  where  was  then  a 
wood  about  half  a  mile  from  the  enemy.  Thus  cooped  up  between 
the  besieged  and  the  catholics,  who  cut  off  their  supplies  of 
provisions  and  prevented  their  marauds,  the  English  could  only 
venture  far  enough  to  hastily  retreat,  casting  away  their  burdens 
when  their  enemy  came  in  view.  They  soon  abandoned  all  marauds 
by  day,  and  soon  after  even  at  night.  What  they  had  was  speedily 
consumed.  Want,  famine  and  at  length  pestilence  wasted  their  army, 
whilst  the  Irish  camp  abounded  in  food.  The  besieged  for  many 
weeks  had  been  supplied  with  what  they  brought  with  them,  or 
the  town  afforded,  secure  from  assault  by  their  own  valor,  or  by  the 
defences  which  they  had  constructed. 

The  chiefs  of  Munster,  hitherto  neutral,  took  heart  and  promised 
to  be  no  longer  wanting  to  their  country  or  faith,  but  rally  their 
forces  as  speedily  as  they  might.  Irish  soldiers  in  the  English  ranks 
gave  intimation  to  Tyrconnell,  that  before  three  days  they  would  come 
over  to  him,  and  justified  their  sincerity  by  deserting  in  twos  or  threes 
together,  often  ten  at  a  time.  If  their  desertion  to  the  side  to  which 
they  naturally  owed  their  allegiance  had  been  awaited  in  patience  it 
would  have  been  all  over  with  the  English  army,  for  of  the  fifteen 
thousand  troops  with  which  they  had  commenced  the  siege,  half  had 
already  succumbed  to  the  sword,  hunger,  cold  or  disease.  A  large 
part  of  them,  recent  recruits  from  England,  were  sluggish  and  un- 
accustomed to  toil  or  danger.  Of  the  residue  scarcely  two  thousand 
were  English  or  protestant,  so  numerous  in  the  ranks  were  Irish  or 
Anglo-Irish.  The  deputy  appalled  by  the  discouraging  posture  of 
affairs,  resolved  to  send  off  his  cavalry  if  not  to  raise  the  siege,  and 
betakinsj  himself  to  Cork  to  defend  its  walls.  Thus  without  combat  or 
loss  the  catholics  by  patience  would  have  been  left  victorious.  Their 
historian  piously  ascribes  the  very  different  course  of  events  to  the 
sins  of  his  countrymen. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  599 

Aqiiila,  by  frequent  missives,  urged  O'Donnel  to  effect  a  jiuiction 
•with  him.  O'Xeil,  O'Sullivan  and  others  thought  it  wise  not  to 
precipitate  affairs,  but  await  the  coming  in  of  the  expected  deserters 
and  the  retreat  of  the  enemy.  This  more  prudent  policy  Tyrconnel 
and  the  majority  of  the  leaders  opposed,  A  day  was  appointed 
when  O'Xeil,  just  before  dawn,  should  draw  near  to  the  royalist 
entrenchments,  and  Aquila  sally  forth  to  join  him.  Letters  inter- 
cepted or  some  traitor  suborned  by  the  deputy,  betrayed  their  design. 

O'Xeil  advancing  with  his  forces  drawn  up  in  three  lines  to  the  speci- 
fied point,  found  it  to  his  surprise  already  occupied  by  the  English, 
who  with  drums  and  trumpets  and  firing  of  guns,  appeared  to  be 
engaged  in  combat.  Scouts  from  the  town  discovering  the  trick  re- 
ported it  to  Aquila,  who  relinquished  his  part  of  the  project.  O'Don- 
nel led  astray  by  guides  ignorant  or  treacherous,  wandered  oft"  in  the 
dark,  and  no  information  could  be  had  of  where  he  was.  O'Xeil 
and  O'Sullivan,  receiving  an  erroneous  impression  from  what  they 
heard  that  Aquila  had  reached  the  place  assigned  for  their  rendez- 
vous, hurried  rapidly  forward  to  his  support.  Finding  the  English 
had  returned  to  their  entrenchments  and  the  camp  silent,  they  also 
at  last  surmised  the  deceit.  After  some  little  delay  they  went  cautious- 
ly on,  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  towards  the  place  stipulated ;  the 
army  of  O'Sullivan,  in  advance,  halting  near  the  lines  of  the  English 
camp,  but  screened  from  their  view  by  a  hill. 

As  it  became  day,  O'Xeil  surprised  that  the  Spanish  commander 
did  not  come  forward  or  give  signal  for  commencing  the  fight,  with 
O'Sullivan  and  O'Campo  ascended  the  hill,  scanning  with  scrutinizing 
gaze  the  camp  below.  There  it  lay  close  by,  in  all  its  strength  of 
rampart,  ditch,  batteries  and  towers,  soldiers  under  arms  and  horses 
caparisoned.  Even  in  numbers  they  exceeded  their  own  forces  if 
united,  many  of  whom,  and  especially  those  from  the  south,  had  the 
day  before  gone  out  to  forage.  O'Donnel  with  his  army  did  not 
appear.     O'Xeil,  after  a  consultation  with  his  officers,  concluding  to 


600  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

defer  the  attempt  to  another  night,  ordered  a  retreat.  Before  they 
had  retired  four  hundred  paces,  they  met  O'Donnel,  greatly  offended 
at  their  retrograde  movement,  who  at  this  moment  had  encountered 
the  English  cavalry  at  the  ford  he  was  crossing  and  driven  them  back. 
The  enemy  renewed  their  attempt  to  cross  the  stream.  O'Donnel  sup- 
posing they  could  be  easily  crushed  between  the  ford  and  his  own 
troops,  if  he  gained  more  space  for  evolution,  drew  back,  when  part 
of  his  own  cavalry,  either  from  accident  or  treachery,  rode  into  the 
ranks  of  the  rest  ex-eating  confusion.  This  disorder  extended  to  the 
infantry,  whose  lines,  broken  by  the  charges  of  the  cavalry,  took  to 
flight,  after  a  resistance  in  which  they  lost  many  hundred  lives. 

The  panic  spread.  Ulster  and  Munster  men,  worn  out  by 
their  long  watching,  not  sufficiently  instructed  to  realize  that  safety 
in  battle  was  to  keep  cool  and  not  break  their  ranks,  and  when  thrown 
into  disorder  to  reform  with  promptitude,  repel  cavalry  charges  in  flank 
or  rear  as  in  front,  lost  presence  of  mind  when  the  royalists  moved 
rapidly  down  upon  them.  In  spite  of  the  efforts  and  entreaties  of 
their  officers  to  rally  round  their  standards,  they  retreated.  The 
royalist  cavalry  fearing  this  a  snare  to  entrap  them  pursued  with  little 
vigor.  Many  Irish  leaders  on  the  royalist  side  endeavored  to 
persuade  the  fugitives  to  renew  the  combat,  promising  their  aid. 
Neither  their  efforts  nor  those  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel  availed. 
O'Sullivan,  Tyrrel  and  the  Spaniards  prolonged  the  combat  until 
they  were  overpowered  by  numbers.  English  writers  say  twelve 
hundred  of  the  catholics  were  left  dead  upon  the  field.  The  catholic 
historian  says  one  sixth  of  that  number  perished  in  O'Neil's  army, 
probably  in  the  retreat.  Thomond  and  Clanrickard  did  good  ser- 
vice. The  latter,  who  had  killed,  in  the  engagement  or  retreat, 
twenty  Irishmen  with  his  own  hand,  and  whose  battle-cry  was  to 
spare  no  rebel,  received  from  the  deputy  the  honor  of  knighthood 
for  his  prowess  on  the  field,  where  thanksgiving  was  rendered  up  for 
this  unexpected  victory. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  601 

It  is  easy  to  reconcile  discrepancies  between  this  and  other  accounts 
of  the  battle.  According  to  the  most  reliable,  the  deputy  learning  from 
MacMahon  ^Yhat  was  designed,  strengthened  his  outposts  and  kept  his 
army  ready  for  action.  Towards  daybreak,  whilst  in  consultation 
with  the  marshal  and  president,  Graham,  in  charge  that  night  of  the 
videttes,  reported  to  them  that  his  scouts  had  discovered  the  enemy's 
apjjroach,  from  their  matches  flashing  through  the  darkness.  Put- 
ting his  men  under  arms  and  sending  word  to  Thomond,  Blount 
ordered  batteiies  to  command  the  ford  which  the  catholics  must  pass. 
Delcampo,  eager  to  join  Aquila  within  the  walls  with  his  eight  hun- 
dred Spaniards,  obtained  leave  from  Tyrone  to  push  on,  but  finding 
the  ford  thus  guarded  drew  back. 

The  president  sent  to  prevent  sorties  from  the  town,  Blount  advanced 
to  where  Tyrone  had  taken  position  beyond  another  ford  on  strong 
ground ,  with  a  bog  in  flank,  his  men  still  in  disorder  from  their  retrograde 
movement.  The  marshal,  with  Power  and  Clanrickard,  drove  in 
their  skirmish  lines,  but  the  gross  or  main  bodies  on  either  side  en- 
gaging, the  royalists  were  repeatedly  driven  back.  Godolphin, 
Graham,  Mynshal,  Barkley,  Da  vers,  Taafe  and  Fleming  coming  up 
with  large  masses  of  foot  and  horse,  their  charges  were  at  first  re- 
pulsed, but  persevering,  the  catholics  gave  way,  and  covered  by  their 
cavalry,  through  the  great  exertions  of  their  commanders,  retreated  in 
good  order.  Tyrrel,  Donal  Coom  and  Delcampo  with  the  Spaniards, 
stood  firm  upon  a  hill  to  the  right ;  when  assailed  by  Roe  they  retired 
to  an  eminence  beyond.  Their  numbers  melting  away  under  the 
withering  fire,  Delcampo  and  forty  of  his  men  surrendered,  all  that 
were  left  in  his  ranks  of  the  eight  hundred,  and  this,  it  is  said, 
ended  the  strife. 

Had  the  catholic  king,  or  his  ministers,  heeded  what  Tyrone  ur- 
gently wrote,  this  misery  would  have  been  escaped.  "If  sent  to 
Ulster,  four  or  five  thousand  men  would  be  required,  but  if  to  Mun- 
ster,  they  should  send  more  strongly,  because  neither  he  nor  O'Donnel 
76 


602  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

could  come  to  help  them."  The  event  justified  his  foresight.  For 
with  their  utmost  exertions  the  northern  chiefs  could  not  muster,  and 
leave  their  own  country  sufficiently  guarded,  more  than  six  thousand 
for  cooperation  at  the  south,  and  these  inferior  in  arms  and  especially 
in  artillery.  In  the  open  field,  in  mid- winter,  without  town  or  castle 
for  support  or  shelter,  events  they  could  not  control  baffled  their 
prudence.  They  could  neither  select  their  ground  nor  a  favorable 
season  for  battle,  and  they  were  prematurely  and  without  prepara- 
tion entangled  at  great  disadvantage. 

This  disaster,  fatal  to  national  independence,  has  been  attributed 
to  the  disloyalty  of  MacMahon,  whose  eldest  son  had  been  page  to 
the  president,  and  who  betrayed  what  was  designed.  Occurrences 
during  the  night  are  difficult  to  explain  upon  any  other  hypothesis 
than  treason  in  the  ranks.  Besides,  strange  lights  flitting  about  on  the 
lances  of  the  English  troops  disturbed  wanderers  in  a  region  not  familiar, 
whilst  thunder  and  lightning,  unusual  at  that  season  of  the  year,  for 
it  was  the  day  before  Christmas,*  increased  their  perplexities. 

But  divided  covmcils,  the  ancient  rivalry  for  command  between 
Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  revived  at  this  inopportune  moment,  and 
assuming  form  as  they  left  tlieir  entrenchments,  proved  the  obstacle 
to  success.  From  what  is  known  of  the  condition  of  the  royalists, 
had  either  of  them  been  allowed  to  control  operations,  victory  would 
have  stood  within  their  grasp.  The  three  armies,  though  not  far 
apart,  acted  without  concert,  and  were  a  mutual  embarrassment.  The 
chroniclers  tell  us  that  few  comparatively  were  slain,  but  that  the 
glory  of  the  island  for  valor,  chivalry  and  noble  traits,  its  prosperity 
and  independence  were  thrown  away  in  this  battle.  It  is  recorded 
that  a  prophecy  was  read  to  Blount  from  an  old  manuscript,   and 

*  Old  style.  These  dates  may  confuse.  In  1582,  Gregory  abolished  the  Julian  calen- 
dar and  adopted  the  Gregorian,  dropping  ten  days  after  the  fourth  of  October.  Protestants 
were  slow  to  accept  an  improvement  emanating  from  Rome,  and  the  English  not  before  1751. 
In  their  works  the  date  of  the  l)attle  is  as  given  in  the  text,  the  twenty- fourth  of  December, 
by  Spanish  and  Irish  catholics  the  third  of  January.  December  then  the  tenth  month,  the 
new  year  dated  from  the  twenty-tifth  of  March.  Elizabeth  died  March  24,  1602,  old  style; 
by  the  new,  April  3,  1603. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  603 

repeated  to  him  bj  Thomond,  that  the  Gael,  or  foreigner,  was  to 
gain  a  great  victory  at  that  time  and  place. 

Tyrone  lost  heavily,  yet  still  formidable  in  numbers,  strove  inef- 
fectually to  persuade  his  brother  chieftains  to  resume  their  former 
methods  of  warfare,  and  taking  at  once  some  position  of  strength, 
to  wear  out  their  foes  by  famine  and  fatigue.  But  the  other  armies, 
more  exposed  had  sustained  greater  loss  than  his  own,  and  could  not 
be  reorganized  in  presence  of  an  enemy  emboldened  by  success. 
They  withdrew,  and  the  royalists  doubting  their  own  good  fortune, 
or  possibly  conjecturing  that  appearances  were  deceitful,  that  the  real 
design  was  to  draw  them  away  from  their  camp  and  afford  Aquila  a 
chance  to  attack  it  at  advantage,  did  not  pursue. 

That  night  the  broken  troops  reached  Innishannon,  near  Bandon, 
demoralized.  Reproaches  mingled  with  their  disappointment.  They 
could  not  sleep.  They  sought  no  refreshment.  All  realized  the 
extent  of  their  calamity.  Consultation  among  their  leaders  as  to 
what  course  should  be  pursued  to  guard  against  perils  impending, 
led  to  little  conclusion,  and  the  measures  adopted  were  precipitate 
and  not  harmonious.  O'Neil,  whose  advice  if  adopted  would 
have  averted  the  catastrophe,  retained  his  wonted  calmness  and  cour- 
age, advocating  a  bold  course.  But  opposition  from  O'Rourke,  from 
personal  considerations,  which  at  critical  conjunctures  in  Ireland,  as 
elsewhere,  have  often  defeated  wiser  counsels,  prevailed.  Learning 
that  his  brother,  left  in  charge  of  Brefny,  had  improved  his  absence  to 
supplant  him,  he  was  anxious  to  hurry  home.  Randal  of  the  Glynns 
also  objected  to  remaining,  and  their  example  spread.  It  was 
determined  to  end  the  campaign,  and  defend  their  own  borders 
until  fresh  succors  came. 

Donal  Coom,  of  Beare,  was  directed  meanwhile  to  take 
command  of  the  troops,  about  three  thousand,  left  in  Munster. 
Tyrconnel,  who  had  been  wounded,  with  Redmond  Burke  and 
Mostyn  sailed  for  Spain,  on  the  twenty-seventh,  from  Castlehaven. 


604  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

They  reached  in  eight  days  Corunna,  near  that  tower  of  Breogan, 
from  which  the  great-grandsons  of  its  builder  had  started  twenty 
centuries  before  to  resent  the  slaughter  of  their  uncle  and  his  com- 
panions, whom  the  Tuatha  de  Danaans,  then  possessors  of  the 
island,  had  inhospitably  slain. 

In  the  midst  of  winter,  shut  off  by  sea  from  reinforcements  and 
supplies,  the  prospect  of  the  besieged  was  not  encouraging,  and 
before  the  week  ended  their  commander  proposed  a  conference  to 
arrange  preliminaries  for  surrender.  His  demands,  considering  the 
changed  aspect  of  affairs,  were  somewhat  audacious,  including  a  safe 
return  home  for  his  army,  with  treasure,  guns  and  whatever  else 
they  possessed.  These  conditions  were  extended  to  cover  Dunboy, 
Donneshed  and  Donnelong  belonging  to  Sir  Finnen  O'Driscol,  at 
Baltimore,  and  the  fortresses  of  Sir  Donogh  at  Castlehaven,  with  their 
respective  Spanish  garrisons.  They  were  conceded  after  negotiation. 
The  besiegers  found  themselves  in  no  state  to  insist  upon  more 
rigorous  terms,  the  besieged  upon  any  more  liberal. 

Some  weeks  were  needed  to  collect  transports.  Civilities,  custom- 
ary upon  such  occasions,  were  interchanged  between  the  general 
officers,  and  a  friendly  intimacy  grew  up  between  Aquila  and  the 
president.  This  led  later  to  expression  in  tokens  of  wine  and  fruit, 
returned  by  the  crafty  president,  in  horses,  not  of  wood,  but  Irish 
pacers,  the  messengers  conveying  them  instructed  to  ascertain  what 
was  intended  and  discourage  it  by  misrepresentation.  Fresh  succor 
for  the  catholic  cause  in  Ireland,  to  the  extent  of  fourteen  thousand 
men,  prompted  by  the  earnest  solicitations  of  Tyrconnel,  was  already 
in  preparation,  and  the  king  displeased  at  the  precipitation  of  Aqui4a 
in  surrendering  Kinsale,  upon  his  arrival  threw  him  into  prison 
where  he  died  before  many  months. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  G05 


*     XLVI. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1G02.— (Continued.) 
Tyrone  realizing  his  clanger,  remote  from  his  own  possessions, 
Avhich  were  seriously  compromised  by  his  reverses  and  heavy  losses 
of  men  and  arms,  hastened  north,  it  is  said,  on  a  litter  from  wounds 
received  in  the  fight.  Rory,  on  his  way,  encountered  in  Meath  train 
bands  from  the  towns,  hastily  collected  and  easily  routed  ;  but  ill  for 
several  months,  the  royalists  beset  Ballyshannon,  from  which  O'Gal- 
laglier  after  bravely  defending  it  escaped.  O'Dwyer,  too  ill  to  remove, 
had  killed  an  Englishman  in  honest  warfare,  and  on  this  pretext  with 
three  hundred  women  and  children,  was  slain.  Rory  recovered, 
routed  Lambert  in  the  Corlew  mountains  driving  him  into  Boyle, 
and  mounting  his  musquetecrs  in  croup  behind  his  troopo's,  over- 
takinor  killed  not  a  few.  Lambert  as^ain  souo-ht  to  cross  the  mount- 
ains,  but  the  cTiief  and  O'Conor  Sligo  blocked  his  path.  When 
Guest,  coming  by  sea,  occupied  Ballyshannon,  Rory  ordered  the  corn* 
cut  about  the  place.  The  garrison  interfering,  he  drove  them  off, 
their  loss  amounting  to  three  hundred  killed  and  wounded. 

Measures  first  taken  for  repairing  Castle-ni-Park  and  Halbolin  for 
protection  of  Cork,  the  deputy  sent  his  kinsman  George  Blount  to 
Tyrone  to  proffer  terms  of  amity  and  pardon  if  he  would  make  sub- 
mission, assist  in  quelling  the  rebellion,  disclaim  the  title  of  O'Neil 
and  all  rule  over  the  uriaghts,  release  the  sons  of  Shane  and  his  other 
prisoners,  admit  sheriffs,  pay  rents,  duties  and  arrears,  and  within 
six  months  deliver  twenty  tliousand  cows  and  build  two  forts.  As 
assurance  for  his  sincerity,  he  was  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  queen 
his  eldest  son  and  four  principal  gentlemen  of  his  blood.  Sir  Charles 
Wilmot,  early  in  February,  with  two  thousand  men  went  back  to 
his  command  in  KeiTy.  On  his  march,  between  Askeaton  and 
Glynn,  he  surprised  at  night  Hugh  MacS weeny,  in  wait  to  stay  his 


606  TRANSFER     OP     ERIN. 

passage  over  the  Cassan.  He  took  Carrigophoyle  and  LIxnaw,  and 
at  Ballyho,  ten  miles  from  Castlemagne,  still  held  by  his  warders, 
defeated  Sir  William  Fitzgerald,  knight  of  Kerry,  who,  with  Donal 
Clancarre  bringing  five  thousand  cows  of  his  own,  and  William 
Burke,  as  a  peace  oiFering,  four  thousand  belonging  to  O'SuUivan 
Mor  collected  as  he  came,  tendered  their  allegiance. 

Donal  Coom  not  acknowleds-ino;  the  right  to  embrace  his  castles 
in  the  capitulation,  took  possession  of  them,  entering  Dunboy  at 
night  whilst  the  warders  were  asleep.  Justifying  his  course  to  the 
king,  he  sent  his  eldest  boy  as  pledge  for  his  fidelity,  with  Dermod 
O'Driscol  to  solicit  aid,  resolved  to  keep  the  field  till  it  came.  His 
own  adherents  and  two  thousand  auxiliaries,*  constituted  a  consider- 
able force ;  the  more  formidable  from  the  mountainous  character  of 
the  country  which  he  controlled.  He  reduced,  after  a  vigorous  de- 
fence, Carriganass,  the  only  castle  his  cousin  Owen,  always  loyal  to 
the  crown  as  his  father  had  been  before  him,  retained.  O'Donovan, 
who  had  deserted  the  cause,  he  attempted  to  win  back  by  raiding 
within  his  bordei'S,  and  shut  up  within  their  walls  the  royalists,  whose 
numbers,  their  loss  at  the  siege  and  detachments  gone  north  with 
the  deputy  in  pursuit  of  Tyrone,  had  greatly  reduced. 

Carew  busily  employed  in  embarking  the  Spaniards,  part  of  whom 
were  sent  home  in  March  and  part  in  May,  mustered  at  Cork  what 
forces  he  could.  Having  but  five  hundred  English  soldiers,  he  de- 
pended mainly  upon  the  Munster  chiefs  to  assist  him,  who,  staunch 
catholics,  had  little  affection  for  a  government  arbitrary  and  tyranni- 
cal, and  eager  to  spoU.  Whilst  hope  could  be  reasonably  entertained 
of  success,  many  had  openly  or  covertly  manifested  their  natural 
sympathies  ;  but  now  that  it  was  extinguished,  they  readily  embraced 
the  opportunity  extended  of  amnesty  and  protection  for  then*  property 

*  Dermot  O'Sullivan,  uncle  of  Donal  Coom,  and  father  of  the  catholic  historian,  Daniel, 
son  of  O'Sullivan  Mor,  Donal,  son  of  Clancarre,  MacSweenj's,  MacCarthies  and  O'Driscols, 
O'Connor  Kerry,  Lixnaw,  knights  of  Kerry  and  Glynn,  John  Fitzthomas,  James  Butler, 
brother  of  Cahir,  William  Burke  and  Richard  Tyrrel  were  under  his  command. 


TRANSFEE     OF     ERIN.  007 

from  confiscation,  of  their  families  from  the  fangs  of  their  merciless 
foes.*  From  the  havoc  of  war,  subsistence  had  become  an  embar- 
rassment, and  they  greedily  snatched  at  pay  or  ration  offered  by 
Carew.  It  would  have  proved  in  the  end  a  wiser  policy  if  the  four 
thousand  who  responded  to  the  call  of  the  president  had  joined  the 
catholics. 

With  a  considerable  portion  of  these  levies,  Thomond  was  de- 
spatched, in  March,  to  the  west.  Donal  guarded  the  goat's  pass 
into  Beare,  where  Cromwell  fifty  years  afterwards  constructed  his 
bridge  part  of  which  remains,  declining  an  interview  which  the  earl 
requested.  Thomond  leaving  eight  battalions  on  Whiddy  Island, 
in  the  bay  of  Bantry,  in  a  position  of  strength  with  competent  sup- 
plies of  guns,  munitions  and  food,  returned  to  Cork.  After  much 
skirmishing  and  some  partial  engagements,  the  troops  left  were  forced, 
in  May,  to  evacuate  the  island,  and  making  their  way  to  Bantry 
were  about  to  be  cut  oflT,  when  the  president,  who  had  hastened  upon 
the  intelligence  with  his  whole  army  to  their  rescue,  coming  into 
view,  the  catholics,  not  in  force  to  contend,  retired.  Dermot  Moyle 
MacCarthy,  brother  of  Florence  in  the  tower,  had  been  sent  into 
Carbery  to  forage,  where  encountering  Donal  na  Pipi,  its  chief, 
they  came  to  parley  and  parted  ostensibly  friends.  The  cattle  gen- 
erally in  Munster  had  been  driven  by  order  of  the  president  towards 
Limerick  or  beyond  Youghal.  But  those  in  Carbery,  Donal  had 
pastured  about  Kinsale.  Dermod,  on  the  thirteenth,  was  gathering 
his  own  from  the  herds  into  his  castle,  when  the  churls  near  by  col- 
lected and  setting  upon  his  party  he  fell  in  the  skirmish.  He  was  an 
able  officer  and  highly  esteemed,  a  great  loss  to  the  catholics,  who 
buried  him  with  due  solemnity  at  Timoleague. 

Wilmot    had  just   before  received  orders  from  the  president  to 

*  Thomond  with  O'Brien  of  Limerick,  Maccarthies  Reagh  and  Muskerrv,  Denis  and 
Florence,  Barrymore,  the  white  knight,  Owen  Beare,  Dermot,  brother  of  O'Stillivan  Mor, 
with  many  chiefs  of  Onnond  joined  Cajrew.  Some  of  them  near  Cork  had  no  alternative 
but  suhmission. 


608  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

join  liim  at  Carew,  or  Downmark  castle,  two  miles  from  Bantry 
abbey.  This  stronghold  belonged  three  centuries  before  to  the 
marquis  of  Carew,  to  whose  extensive  claims  to  half  Cork,  derived 
from  Fitzstephen,  Carew  professed  to  be  heir.  But  what  title  had  ever 
vested  had  long  before  reverted  to  its  more  legitimate  owners.  His 
eagerness  to  establish  hi^  claim  by  act  of  possession,  led  the 
president  to  disregard  the  dissuasions  of  Thomond  and  others  from 
an  enterprise  attended  with  great  hazard  and  cost.  Wilmot  obeyed 
the  summons,  and  crossing  Killarney  by  Mucruss  abbey  over  Man- 
gerton  mountain,  effected  a  junction  on  the  eighth  with  the  main  army, 
already  at  their  rendezvous,  a  strong  detachment  being  sent  to  meet 
him  at  Ardtully,  the  home  of  the  MacFinnens. 

Carew  reinforced  to  three  thousand  effective  troops,  had  started  on  the 
twenty-third  of  April,  to  reduce  the  castles  of  Beare.  He  took  Bal- 
timore on  his  march  and  reached  Carew  castle  in  a  week.  On  the 
fourth  of  May,  appeared  in  his  camp  O'Daly,  whose  ancestor  had 
received  from  the  marquis,  during  his  brief  possession  in  Munster, 
the  country,  towards  the  south,  of  Muinterbarra,  to  be  held  by  him- 
self and  his  descendants  as  hereditary  rhymers  of  the  Carews.  The 
bard  had  been  sent  by  Donal  Coom  as  emissary  to  his  cousin  Owen, 
chief  of  Bantry,  to  persuade  him  to  join  the  catholics.  Owen  reported 
him  to  the  president,  who  to  retaliate  offered  biibcs  to  two  Spanish 
gunners  and  an  Italian  in  the  garrison,  to  spike  the  guns  and  spoil  their 
carriages.  He  sought  also  to  persuade  Tyrrel  to  a  conference,  but 
Archer  and  the  rest  prevented  what  they  feared  might  jjrove  a  tempt- 
ation not  to  be  resisted,  Tyrrel  having  of  late  manifested  an  inclina- 
tion to  make  peace. 

After  several  weeks  delay  at  Bantry,  Carew's  supplies  and 
artillery  at  last  arrived  in  twenty  vessels  from  the  seaports. 
Donal  Coom  laid  wait  for  him  about  Glengariff,  presuming  his  route 
would  be  through  the  mountains  which  lay  w^est  of  the  bay.  But 
breaking  camp  on  the  first  of  June,  and  leaving  his  sick  on  Whiddy 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  i309 

island,  the  president  marched  down  to  Kihiemanogc  in  IMuinter- 
barra  and  passed  over  his  army  in  detachments,  on  successive  days, 
having  only  boats  for  half  his  number  at  a  time,  to  the  island  of 
Bearc,  about  twenty  miles  south  of  Bantry. 

This  island,  seven  miles  in  length,  at  its  southerly  extremity  ap- 
proached the  main  shoi'c  so  nearly  that  a  chain  when  raised  closed 
the  entrance  to  the  harbor.  Here  with  Castletown,  or  Bearehaven, 
around  it,  stood  the  ancient  castle  of  Dunboy,  planted  close  by  the 
water-side  to  protect  the  haven,  which  enjoyed  considerable  trade  from 
foreign  lands.  Its  excellent  fishing  grounds,  the  resort  of  many 
catholic  nations,  yielded  its  chief  an  annual  revenue  of  five  hundred 
pounds.  The  peninsula  of  Beare  extends  ten  miles  further  to  the 
southwest,  where  Dursey  island  forms  its  continuation  to  the  sea. 

The  castle  itself,  constructed  of  square  masses  of  heavy  mason  work, 
contained  on  its  second  floor  the  spacious  banqueting  hall,  an  essential 
feature  of  both  domestic  and  military  life  at  this  period.  Its  windows 
commanded  wide  views  over  the  adjacent  waters,  but  vvei'e  so  constructed 
fis  to  be  easily  barricaded  against  missiles  from  without.  On  the 
southwest  of  the  castle,  rose  a  circular  tower  to  a  greater  elevation 
than  the  principal  edifice,  and  on  it  was  mounted  an  iron  falcon. 
The  bawn  which,  for  guarding  cattle  or  other  purposes,  surrounded 
this  medieval  fortalice,  had  been  filled  up  in  part  with  mounds  of  earth 
behind  the  walls,  so  that  only  eight  feet  were  left  in  some  places 
between  them  and  the  castle,  but  from  the  corres*pondence  of  Anias,  it 
Avould  appear  that  several  buildings  stood  on  the  southerly  side  within  its 
limits.  From  its  barbican,  sprung  turrets  mounted  with  artil- 
lery. Hides  and  earth  were  heaped  before  the  openings,  and  powder 
mixed  with  balls  ingeniously  arranged  to  destroy  storming  parties. 

The  garrison  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four  men  was  commanded 
by  jMagheogan  ;  Taylor,  who  had  married  a  niece  of  Tyrrel,  suc- 
ceeding him  when  he  w^as   mortally  wounded.      Collins   served  as 
chaplain,  and  we  gather  from  the  admirable  poem  on  the  siege,  by 
77 


GIO  TEANSFEli     OF      ERIN. 

Mr.  Sullivan,  which  follows  the  historical  authorities  with  great  ex- 
actness, that  O'Daly  had  returned  from  his  mission  to  cheer  and 
inspire  the  garrison  with  his  minstrelsy.  Two  or  three  miles  north 
of  Dunboy,  stood  a  smaller  fortress  called  Dermod,  near  by  which 
opened  Sandy  Bay,  the  most  practicable  landing  place  above  the 
haven,  and  a  little  to  the  north  of  it  a  small  creek  entered  in  among 
the  hills.  Opposite  this  castle  and  the  bay  lay  the  island  of  Deenish, 
not  three  hundred  yards  distant  from  the  shore. 

Carew  passed  two  or  three  daj's  on  Beare  island  in  organizing  his 
army.  Owen  O'SuIlivan,  with  his  brothers,  reduced  the  castle  of 
Dunmanus,  on  the  most  easterly  side  of  the  Bantry  peninsula,  and 
on  the  fifth  took  place,  with  the  assent  of  Donal  Coom  and  the  presi- 
dent, an  interview  between  Thomond  and  Mageoghan  to  discover  if 
any  accommodation  were  practicable.  The  earl,  under  his  instruc- 
tions, insisted  upon  unconditional  surrender.  This  was  declined 
respectfully  but  firmly  ;  but  when  Thomond  proceeded  to  insult  the 
noble  chieftain  by  proposals  to  him  to  betray  his  trust,  they  were 
received  with  the  scorn  and  contempt  they  deserved.  Another  event 
at  this  time  exemplified  the  misery  war  brings  in  its  train. 

MacMahon,  last  chief  of  West  Corkavaskin,*  which  lies  along  the 
north  shore  of  the  Shannon  at  its  mouth,  and  from  which  Thomond  had 
driven  him  out  three  years  before,  had  captured  an  English  merchant- 
man at  sea,  which  was  now  needed  to  expedite  the  promised  succor 
from  Spain.      The  urgency  of  the  occasion  justifying  such  an  arbi- 

*  Moyarta,  or  West  Corkavaskin,  granted  at  this  time  bv  the  crown  to  Daniel,  brother  of 
Donogh  fourth  earl  of  Thomond,  and  forfeited  in  1690  by  his  g.  g.  son,  was  then  granted  to 
the  Burtons  who  still  hold.  Daniel's  attachment  to  the  daughter  of  Tcigue  Caec,  displeased 
her  father,  and  on  one  occasion,  the  preconcerted  signal  being  neglected  or  unheeded,  the 
lover,  surprised  on  a  visit  to  Carrigaholt,  escaped  by  swimming  his  horse  across  the  bay. 
As  the  eail,  in  1599,  after  taking  the  castle,  hung  the  warders  on  the  trees,  Teigue  was 
naturally  irate  (see  page  541).  Daniel  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Gerald,  earl  of 
Desmond  (killed  1583),  and  must  have  been  nearly  ninety  when  created  first  vis- 
count Clare  in  1662.  His  g.  g.  g.  son,  sixth  viscount,  commanded  the  Irish  brigade  at 
Fontenoy.  The  representative  of  the  Clonderala,  or  East  Corkavaskin,  branch  of  the  Mac- 
Mahons,  was  Stanislaus,  or  Terence,  who  in  1724  maiTied  at  Bunratty  castle  g.  g.  daughter 
of  19th  Lixnaw ;  his  daughter,  the  head  of  the  Macnamaras,  of  Rossroe,  lately  represented 
by  Gen.  Bourchier  of  Ehii  Hill.  From  another  branch  in  France  (ascending  John,  count 
d'Equilly,  Patrick,  Mortogh,  Maurice,  Mortogh,  Bernard,  Terence  and  Donatus  who  died 
1472),  its  present  executive  chief  is  said  to  have  descended. 


TKANSFEKOFEEIN.  Gil 

trary  proceeding,  Donal,  taking  the  cliicf  ^Yitll  him,  went  to  the  river 
to  seize  the  vessel.  As  they  approached,  ]Mac^Iahon  ordered  his 
son  Turlogh,  in  command,  not  to  dehver  it.  Turlogh,  in  obedience 
to  the  parental  order,  fired  upon  the  assailants,  a  chance  shot  from 
his  own  gun  killing  his  father.  The  chroniclers  in  noting  the  catas- 
trophe, pass  high  encomium  upon  the  skill  and  generosity  of  the 
deceased,  and  upon  his  taste  for  wine,  horses  and  books. 

Carew  discovered  a  spot  flivorably  situated  for  his  batteries  on  the 
opposite  shore,  screened  by  hills,  which  he  thought  he  could  reach  with- 
out observation,  and  Sunday,  the  sixth  of  June,  was  the  time  fixed 
for  the  attempt.  Donal  and  Tyrrel,  on  the  alert  and  apprized  of  the 
intended  movement,  marched  down  to  Sandy  Bay,  where  they  had 
reason  to  believe  the  English  would  cross,  and  made  their  dispositions 
to  dispute  their  landing.  Early  that  morning,  which  was  foul  and 
stormy,  the  president,  with  one  solitary  attendant,  rode  forth  to  the 
place  where  the  boats  lay  ready  for  the  embarkation.  To  gain  a 
nearer  view  of  the  coast  he  passed  in  the  pinnace  Merlin  to  the  island 
of  Deenish,  where,  without  being  perceived,  he  could  see  the  cath- 
olics in  force  at  the  bay,  strongly  posted.  He  ordered  Fleming,  the 
captain  of  the  pinnace,  to  land  from  it  two  falconets  on  the  north  end 
of  the  island.  When  Thomond's  regiment  and  his  own  coming  over 
disembarked  as  ordered,  he  marched  them  to  that  part  of  its  shore 
nearest  the  bay,  within  full  view  and  musket  shot  of  the  catholics,  as  if 
intending  from  thence  to  take  a  new  departure  across  the  few  hundred 
feet  of  water  that  separated  them.  The  boats  returned  for  the  other 
two  regiments  of  Wilmot  and  Percy,  who,  making  a  feint  to  land  at 
the  same  place  as  the  others,  moved  on  rapidly  to  a  point  out  of  view 
of  the  bay,  and  sufficiently  remote  to  occupy  and  hold  unmolested 
until  the  boats  crossed  over  the  two  other  regiments  from  Deenish  to 
join  them. 

The  catholics,  surprised  and  disappointed,  hastened  to  the  attack, 
but   in   their   eagerness   reached    the    i^round    in    some    disorder. 


612  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Against  such  odds,  strongly  posted  and  defended  by  artillery,  their 
courage  proved  unavailing,  and  after  considerable  loss  they  were 
obliged  to  withdraw.  Their  disappointment  was  alleviated  by  intel- 
ligence that  the  day  before  a  vessel  had  arrived  at  Ardea  from  Spain, 
bringing  Donal  twelve  thousand  pieces  of  gold  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  the  war,  which  he  had  previously  borne  out  of  his  own  resources. 
Tlie  vessel  carried  back  Cornelius  O'Driscol,  to  urge  immediate  re>- 
inforcements. 

The  royalists  rested  their  first  night  near  castle  Dermod,  and  the 
following  day  advanced  to  within  a  mile  of  Dunboy,  a  creek  sepa- 
rating it  from  their  camp.  Two  falcons  were  planted  to  protect  the 
lines,  and  on  the  tenth  they  drew  nearer,  the  ordnance  being  safely 
transported  under  the  guns  of  the  castle  by  water.  On  the  eleventh, 
now  securely  entrenched,  the  first  shot  was  fired.  Approaches  were 
regularly  made,  culverings  and  demi-culverings  mounted,  and  two 
minions  landed  and  placed  northwest  of  the  castle.  The  night 
after,  the  catholics  again  attacked  the  entrenchments,  but  were  a 
second  time  repulsed  ;  tlie  opportunity  being  improved  to  throw  into 
the  castle  various  supplies  brought  by  the  late  arrival  at  Ardea. 

Spanish  engineers  had  thrown  up  ramparts  of  earth  eighteen  feet  in 
thickness  within  the  barbican,  planting  the  guns  on  the  top  and  low- 
ering the  castle  to  the  vault  only  a  dozen  feet  above  the  rampart 
itself.  This  solid  embankment,  whilst  it  shielded  the  lower  part  of 
the  wall  from  the  fire  of  ships,  proved  an  embarrassment  to  the  de- 
fenders in  tlieir  sorties,  and  covered  the  approach  of  the  besiegers 
from  the  castle  guns.  Constructing  mounds  and  platforms  twelve 
feet  higher  than  the  rampart,  Carew  directed  his  fire  against  the 
upper  part  of  the  castle,  the  besieged  defending  themselves  as  best 
they  could  from  Avindow  and  battlement. 

Way  having  been  made  into  the  market  place  and  trenches  opened, 
platforms  were  constructed,  and  tlie  guns  mounted  within  seven-score 
yards  of  the  walls.     Mageoghan  sallied  forth  to  impede  these  opera- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  G13 

tions,  but  to  little  purpose.  Early  on  the  sixteenth,  all  being'  pre- 
pared, they  battered  the  devoted  fortress  for  four  hours,  when  the 
tower,  not  constructed  to  withstand  artillery,  toppled  over  on  to  the 
vaulted  roof  of  the  main  building,  burying  in  its  ruins  the  falcon 
which  had  done  good  service.  A  messenger  sent  to  pr()[)ose  terms 
of  surrender  was  hung  up  by  the  arrogant  Carew,  upon  the  plea  that 
the  castle  had  not  discontinued  its  fire. 

After  this  battering  for  several  days,  the  stones  forced  out  of 
place,  the  outer  walls  grew  weak,  and  a  portion  yielding  the  rest 
gave  way.  Through  the  breach  the  royalists  rushed  in.  Large  stones 
Avere  hurled  down  upon  them  as  they  eifectcd  their  entrance  within 
the  enclosure.  ]Many  fell  pierced  by  the  spear  or  hacked  to  [)icccs 
by  the  sword.  The  besieged  fought  bravely  on  amidst  terrible 
carnage  of  themselves  and  their  assailants,  whilst  wall  after  wall 
crumbled  beneath  the  balls  from  the  heavy  guns  of  the  besiegers, 
or  with  crash  after  crash  fell  in  vast  masses,  dragging  with  them 
soldiers  crushed  by  the  ruins. 

Gaining  the  barbican,  Avith  their  immense  superiority  of  numbers 
the  besiegers  fought  their  way  into  possession  of  one  of  the  turrets, 
whilst  the  catholics,  with  several  small  pieces,  from  another  opposite 
did  much  execution.  Driven  from  that  position,  the  battle  con- 
tinued in  the  space  between  the  barbican  and  castle  wall.  There  the 
besieged  had  the  advantage,  till  some  of  the  assailants  who  had 
gained  the  roof  found  a  passage  opened  by  the  battering,  to  win- 
dows overlooking  this  area,  when  forty  of  the  besieged  sallying  forth 
were  slain,  or  taking  to  the  Avater  were  drowned  or  killed  by  Harvey 
stationed  there  with  three  boats  to  cut  off  fugitives.  The  con- 
centrated fire  soon  demolished  what  remained  of  the  outer  wall,  and 
the  defenders  rushed  towards  the  great  hall  of  the  castle,  one  half 
of  which  was  already  occupied  by  three  battalions  of  the  enemy, 
outnumbering  what  survived  of  their  own  reduced  numbei's.  There 
hand  to  hand  the  combat  fiercely  raged  till  the  royalists  were  driven 
out,  removing  their  wounded. 


614  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

Their  ranks  restored  to  order  and  strengthened  by  fresh  troops  In  lar- 
ger numbers,  the  three  battalions  increased  to  seven,  more  than  could 
be  formed  to  advantage  in  the  limited  space,  they  burst  again  into  the 
large  apartment.  The  floor  heaped  with  carcasses,  strewed  with 
weapons  no  hands  to  wield  them,  streaming  with  blood.  Nearly  all 
the  garrison  were  wounded,  and  at  last  their  noble  leader  dropped 
bleeding  at  every  pore,  and  all  but  lifeless  among  his  fallen  comrades. 
The  survivors  quitting  the  hall  betook  themselves  to  the  vaults  be- 
neath, where  still  fighting  with  courage  unabated  and  with  despera- 
tion, often  an  incitement  to  a  glorious  death,  they  drove  the  enemy 
out,  and  not  only  of  the  hall  but  of  the  castle.  Night  alone  suspended 
the  combat. 

The  following  morning,  the  president  sent  his  summons  for  sur- 
render, to  which  the  besieged  consented  if  allowed  to  quit  the  place 
with  their  lives,  on  the  fifteenth  of  September  ;  probably  by  that  time 
expecting  relief.  Whatever  terms,  if  any,  were  agreed  upon,  the 
Eno-lish  troops  entered  the  castle,  when  Magheogan,  still  alive, 
endeavored  to  explode  the  magazine,  stocked  with  nine  casks  of  powder, 
to  blow  up  the  castle  and  his  enemies,  but  seized  fast  hold  of  by  Percy 
was  slain  before  he  could  accomplish  his  design.  Not  many  were 
taken  alive,  sixty  that  were,  according  to  the  humanity  of  the  period, 
being  hung  in  the  market  place  to  avenge  the  six  hundred  royalists 
who  had  perished.  Twelve,  including  Tajdor  and  Collins,  had 
been  reprieved  for  a  few  days.  Tyrrel  offered  heavy  ransom  for 
their  lives.  The  terms  proposed  in  return  involved  a  sacrifice  of  honor, 
and  he  had  to  abandon  them  to  their  fate. 

The  siege  lasted  from  the  seventh  to  the  eighteenth,  and  considering 
the  disparity  of  numbers  and  the  powerful  artillery  arrayed  against 
it,  the  place  must  have  been  both  strong  and  ably  defended.  The 
president  wrote,  that  a  more  obstinate  and  resolved  defence  had  not 
been  seen  within  the  kingdom.  Against  so  large  an  army  of  the 
royalists  Donal  Coom,  at  GlengarifF,  was  powerless,  and  any  further 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  615 

attempt  to  raise  the  siege  might  have  ended  in  destruction  of  tlie 
force  upon  which  the  main  dependence  was  placed  to  cover  the 
landing  of  the  expected  Spaniards. 

On  the  twelfth,  a  detachment  sent  to  Durscy  Island,  occupied  by 
the  O'Driscols,  had  destroyed  abbey,  church  and  a  castle  built  by  Der- 
mot,  father  of  the  catholic  historian  of  the  war,  slaughtering  old  and 
young,  women  and  children,  infants  and  mothers  quick  with  cliild, 
or  pitching  them  down  the  rocks  into  the  sea.  Dunboy  demolished, 
the  president  carried  Collins,  a  priest,  who  with  Archer  had  incited 
tlie  garrit^on  to  hold  out  to  tlie  last,  to  Cork,  where,  after  inef- 
fectual efforts  to  allure  him  to  apostacy,  tortured  and  drawn  by 
horses,  his  earthly  career,  in  October,  came  to  an  end,  at  Youghal, 
his  native  town. 


XLYII. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH.  — 1558-1602.— (Continued.) 
After  tlie  fall  of  his  castle,  Donal,  no  way  dismayed,  followed 
with  two  thousand  men  the  royalists  to  Cork,  stripping  on  his  way 
Carrignachor  and  Dundearv  of  lead  and  "uns,  and  satherino:  into 
his  ranks  their  dependents,  compelled  O'Donoghue  of  the  valley  to 
surrender  Macroom.  Wilmot  and  Bagnal  on  their  march  to  the  north, 
with  forces  more  numerous  than  his  own,  came  within  a  league 
of  his  camp  ;  but  heavy  storms  swelling  the  streams  kept  them  apart, 
and  Donal  leaving  sufficient  forces  to  hold  ]\Iacroom  as  he  sujjposed, 
swept  through  the  country  carrying  back  rich  spoils  into  Beare. 
The  royalists  besieged  the  castle.  But  when  Cormac,  lord  of  Muskerry , 
arrested  on  suspicion  of  correspondence  with  Spain,  and  j)ut  in  chains 
for  refusing  to  surrender  Blarney,  by  help  of  Owen  jNIacS  weeny  and  his 
clansmen,  effected  his  escape,  the  president  alarmed  lest  his  numberless 
retainers  would  be  too  many  for  him,  ordered  (he  siege  to  be  raised  if 
the  place  should  not  yield  within  twenty-four  hours.      The   besiegers 


616  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

early  in  October  Averc  on  the  eve  of  retiring,  Avlicn  the  garrison, 
withont  water  to  scald  the  swine  for  their'  food,  kindled  faggots  to 
singe  off  their  hair.  A  building  near  by  in  the  bawn  caught  fire  and 
the  flames  extended  to  the  castle,  which  was  burnt.  This  being  a 
favorite  residence  of  the  lords  of  Muskerry,  much  that  was  precious 
was  destroyed.  The  garrison,  leftexposed  to  the  guns  of  the  besiegers, 
cut  their  way  out.  Some  of  them  perished,  but  more  escaped  into 
the  woods. 

INIuskerry  joined  Donal  who  reduced  Carrignaphoca ,  the  stronghold 
of  the  sons  of  Teigue  who  had  betrayed  him,  recovering  the  Spanish 
money  paid  them  when  professing  allegiance.  Donal  delivered  this 
castle  and  two  more  into  his  custody  as  their  lawful  proprietor, 
and  raiding  to  the  gates  of  Cork  carried  back  much  spoil  to 
Glengariff.  Wilmot  holding  Dunkerron,  near  Kenmare,  with  a 
thousand  men,  Donal,  son  of  O'Sullivan  Mor,  put  to  the  sword 
three  battalions  marching  from  Askeaton  to  reinforce  him. 

jMeanwhile  preparations  in  Spain  for  another  expedition  dragged 
slowl}^  along.  Squadrons  blockaded  its  ports,  and  neither  munitions 
nor  ships  could  be  collected.  Tyrconnel,  upon  his  arrival,  had  been 
kindly  received  by  the  king,  begging  him  to  send  relief,  but  not  to 
allow  any  chief  to  be  placed  over  him  or  his  dominions  to  be  lessened. 
This  promised, he  returned  to  Corunna  to  accelerate  operations,  but  in 
August,  vexed  at  the  delay  and  on  his  way  to  court,  died  at  Simancas, 
supposed  to  have  been  poisoned  by  James  Blake,  of  Galway,  whom  in 
June,  the  president  wrote  the  deputy,  he  had  sent  to  put  him  to  death. 
Tyrconnel  at  first  suspicious  Blake  in  time  ingratiated  himself  into  his 
confidence,  and  Carew,  in  October,  wrote  Blount  in  cypher  he  no  doubt 
had  poisoned  him.*     Carew  takes  pride  in  having  A^a-itten,  in  the 

*  Tins  metliod  of  disposing  of  a  dangerous  enemy  seems,  in  tlie  present  state  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  difficult  to  credit.  But  the  assassination  of  Donal  Coom,  at  Madrid,  in  1618,  by 
Bath  who  had  gained  his  confidence,  as  Blake  that  of  Tyrconnel,  cannot  well  be  explained 
on  any  other  hypothesis.  The  disappearance  of  Henry  O'Neil,  eldest  son  of  Tyi-onc,  ai)out 
the  same  time,  can  only  be  attributed  to  the  secret  machinations  of  unscrupulous  power. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  617 

name  of  one  of  his  officers,  to  Aquila  and  De  Soto,  letters  covertly 
designed  to  discourage  further  aid,  enclosing  a  letter  of  Tyrconnel  to 
O'Connor  Kerry  begging  him  not  to  let  the  Spaniards  learn  of  their 
reverses.  This  other  poisoned  arrow  readied  its  mark.  The  blockade 
of  the  coast,  tidings  from  Diin])oy  and  murder  of  the  chief  by  the 
president,  staid  farther  preparation.  This  disappointment  extin- 
guished all  hope  of  relief  and  broke  the  hearts  of  the  catholics. 

Tyrconnel's  death  produced  profound  consternation.  Not  thirty 
years  of  age,  his  military  capacity  and  chivalric  courage,  his  elevated 
statesmanship,  aims  and  aspirations,  high  sense  of  justice  and 
honor,  with  a  disposition  peculiarly  amiable  and  aflfectionatc,  endeared 
him  to  his  country  whilst  he  lived,  and  his  memory  since  has  been 
justly  cherished  as  one  of  its  most  precious  heirlooms.  His  charac- 
ter won  respect  even  from  his  foes,  and  elicits  from  the  chroniclers 
unqualified  eulogium.  His  funeral  obsequies  from  the  royal  palace  of 
Valladolid,  attended  with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  for  Avliich 
Spain  was  famous  upon  melancholy  occasions ,  testified  how  high  a  place 
he  occupied  in  the  esteem  of  its  king.  Tyrone  remained,  but  both 
were  needed,  and  the  death  of  red  Hugh  O'Donnel  was  generally 
recognized,  for  the  time  being  if  not  forever,  as  the  deathblow  of 
national  independence. 

He  never  married.*  Carew,  who  had  defeated  the  alliance  of  the 
sugan  with  the  sister  of  ]\Iuskerry,  had  interfered  with  like  success 
to  prevent  his  marriage  with  Joanna,  daughter  of  the  beheaded  earl 
of  Desmond.  He  Avas  betrothed,  when  he  died,  to  Julia,  second 
daughter  of  Muskerrv,  later  wife  of  Buttevant  and  of  Sir  Dermod 
O'Shaughnessy.     His  engagement  to  Julia  proljably  had  its  effect 

*  According  to  one  account  he  married  a  danslitcrof  Tyrone,  but  it  is  not  substantiated. 
His  mother,  Ina  Daf.  daughter  of  that  James  McDonnel  "of  Isla,  wlio  died  1565  prisoner 
of  Shane  O'Neil,  married  Hugh,  chief  of  Tyrconnel,  when  her  motlier  maiTied  Turlogh 
O'Neil.  Her  noijle  and  heroic  traits  of  character  were  transmitted  to  her  cliil(h-en.  Her 
daughter,  Nuala,  abandoned  her  husband,  Nial  Garve,  when  he  jiroved  false  to  her  brother, 
and  went  later,  with  Ror}-,  to  Rome.  Ina  remained  in  Ulster,  and  denounced  Nial  when  he 
consjjired  with  Sir  Cat)ir"0'Doherty.  Nial  had  indignantly  rejected  the  title  of  baron  Lif- 
ford,  and  passed  the  hist  eighteen  years  of  his  life  in  the  tower  of  London. 


G18  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

in  detaching  her  father  from  his  allegiance  to  the  crown,  to  whom 
both  king  Philip  and  pope  Clement  wrote  urgently,  even  during  the 
siege  of  Kinsale,  to  join  the  catholics,  a  step  which  his  wife  and  her 
brother,  James  Galdie  Butler,  openly  in  rebellion,  likewise  exerted 
their  influence  to  bring  about. 

But  Cormac,  if  zealous  in  the  faith,  was  politic.  His  wife  and 
daughters  were  in  custody  at  Cork,  his  eldest  son,  already  betrothed 
to  the  daughter  of  Thomond,  a  student  at  Oxford,  his  second,  Dan- 
iel, later  head  of  the  branch  of  Carrignavar,  in  pledge.  Macroom  his 
best  abode  had  been  destroyed,  with  five  thousand  pounds  in  value  of 
his  crops.  Blarney  and  Kilci'ea  were  in  possession  of  the  president. 
His  dominions,  the  most  valuable  in  Munster,  stretched  close  up  to  the 
walls  of  Cork,  and  were  peculiarly  open  to  attack.  Though  he  had 
one  thousand  men  actually  in  arms  and  could  muster  thrice  that  number 
to  his  banners,  and  if  chosen  Maccarthy  Mor,  as  he  hoped,  as  many 
more,  however  much  he  desired  the  catholic  cause  to  triumph  he  was 
not  inclined  to  become  a  martyr.  When  tidings  came  that  O'Donnel 
was  dead,  and  the  lateness  of  the  season  precluded  all  hope  of  succor 
before  another  spring,  he  wavered.  His  surrender  of  the  castles  con- 
fided to  his  keeping  by  Donal  Coom,  reflects  discredit  on  his  sense 
of  honor,  but  with  large  and  vulnerable  possessions  which  Carew 
would  have  gladly  appropriated  under  his  stale  pretensions,  his  course 
had  its  embarrassments.' 

Soon  after  his  overtures  to  submission,  Bagnal  with  a  large  force, 
ascertaining  from  one  of  the  sons  of  Teigue,  that  Tp*rel  with  about 
one  thousand  men  lay  near,  in  an  exposed  position,  made  a  noctur- 
nal onslaught  on  his  camp.  By  accident  or  design,  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  before  they  reached  the  lines,  some  recruit  stumbling  his 
gun  went  oflT,  and  Tyrrel  with  his  wife  escaped.  Eighty  men  were 
slain,  forty  chargers,  four  hundred  beasts  of  burden,  good  store  of 
Spanish  money,  household  stuff,  bolts  of  Holland,  a  piece  of  velvet 
uncut,  gold  and  silver  lace,  good  English  apparel  of  satin  and  vel- 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  619 

vet,  Tyrrel's  own  portmanteau,  were  the  spoils.  Tyrrel  attributing 
this  mischance  to  Muskerry,  burnt  his  towns  and  villages,  killed  and 
hung  many  of  his  people,  women  and  children.  This  exasperated 
and  still  further  alienated  the  chief,  whose  power  to  hurt  or  help  was 
too  considerable  not  to  conciliate. 

He  soon  after  submitted,  and  was  pardoned.  Donal  of  Clancarre, 
the  knight  of  Kerry  and  Donal  O'Sullivan  Mor  giving  up  the  cause 
as  hopeless,  made  overtures  to  peace.  Tyrrel,  denied  forgiveness,  led 
his  bonies  into  Connaught.  Donal  Coom,  his  army  reduced  by 
these  defections,  fought  on  for  four  days  with  Wilmot  at  GlengarifF. 
On  the  last  day  of  December,  1602,  with  his  uncle  Dermot 
O'Conor  and  William  Burke,  in  all  four  hundred,  their  wives  having 
sought  refuge  as  best  they  could ,  after  a  combat  at  Akaras  Avhich  cost 
their  foes  deaf,  he  started  for  the  Shannon.  On  their  second  night  at 
Bally vourney,  six  miles  west  of  Macroom,  they  offered  solemn  sup- 
plications commending  themselves  to  divine  providence.  The  Mac- 
Carthies,  faithless  sons  of  Teigue,  who  betrayed  their  chief  and 
kinsman,  the  next  day  for  four  hours  worried  their  march,  but  fled 
when  charged.  In  Duhallo,  without  food,  O'Keefes  andMacawleys, 
who  should  have  befriended  them,  disturbed  even  their  repose.  Near 
Limerick,  they  repulsed  Cuff  and  Barry,  burying  their  dead  and 
carrying  their  wounded  twenty  miles  to  bivouac  in  Aherlow.  With 
no  other  refreshment  than  roots  and  water,  they  started  at  dawn,  and 
their  path  beset-  for  eight  hours  by  the  dependents  of  the  white 
knight,  they  proceeded,  in  a  blaze  of  musketry  the  sky  darkened  by 
the  smoke,  to  Ardpatrick,  and  passing  four  miles  west  of  Tipperary, 
reached  Sulchoid,  where  Donal  confided  to  a  faithful  adherent  his 
second  son,  Dermot,  sent  two  years  later  to  him  in  Spain. 

The  fifth  night  at  Kilnemanagh,  they  kindled  fires  as  the  cold  was 
intense,  and  appeased  their  hungry  appetites  on  dead  leaves.  The 
next  day,  however,  at  Donahil,  they  found  food  which  they  devoured 
as  if  fiimished,  and  bravely  anticipating  the  attack  of  forces  sent  by 


620  TRANSFER      OF     ERIN. 

Ormond,  more  numerous  than  their  own,  routed  them.  Daniel  O'Mal- 
ley  and  Thomas  Burke,  with  sixty  hungry  soldiers,  off  without  orders 
foraging,  were  waylaid,  the  former  with  twenty  others  being  slain. 
Donal  rescued  the  latter  who  was  captured,  with  the  loss  of  his  arms 
but  saving  his  helmet.  In  a  chapel,  at  Latteragh,  they  slept  alter- 
nately, the  attacks  of  the  garrison  of  the  castle  warded  off  by  those 
on  guard.  On  the  sixth,  showers  of  balls,  now  their  daily  experi- 
ence, saluted  them  from  every  covert,  the  more  vexatious  that  their 
successive  assailants  were  always  fresh  and  they  weary.  When  they 
halted  their  foes  retired,  renewing  the  attack  when  their  march  was 
resumed.  The  strife  only  ended  at  night  as  they  reached  Bros- 
nach,  near  Portland,  on  the  Shannon. 

There  in  the  woods,  girded  about  by  felled  trees  and  entrench- 
ments, Dermot,  uncle  of  the  chief,  built  a  boat  of  saj^iings,  covered 
Avith  the  skins  of  twelve  horses  which  they  killed  and  ate.  Stiffened  by 
cross  boards,  flat  to  escape  the  rocks  and  shoals,  this  boat,  twenty-six 
feet  long,  six  broad  and  five  high,  the  prow  more  elevated  to  contend 
with  the  waves,  was  carried,  when  completed,  at  night  to  the  shore. 
Thirty  crossed  at  a  time,  the  horses  swimming  behind  held  by  their 
halters.  A  smaller  boat,  constructed  by  O'Malley,  when  half  over 
swamped  with  him  and  ten  more.  At  daybreak,  MacEgan,  from 
Redwood  a  castle  near  by,  Avould  have  seized  their  baggage,  killed  the 
boys  in  charge  and  thrown  the  women  into  the  river.  He  paid  for 
this  temerity  with  his  life.  Thomas  Burke,  with  ^twenty  kinsmen, 
slew  him  and  fifteen  of  his  followers,  routing  the  rest  for  the  most 
part,  hurt.  The  firing  attracting  the  neighbors  and  creating  alarm, 
too  many  crowded  on  board  and  the  vessel  upset  as  it  approached 
the  west  bank.  No  one  perished  ;  and  bailed  out  it  brought  over 
the  rear  guai'd  and  all  but  a  few,  who  frightened  by  the  country  folk 
when  they  grew  menacing,  had  concealed  themselves.  Lest  it  should 
help  the  foe  in  pursuit  the  corragh  was  destroyed. 

Food  obtained  in  Gal  way,  they  took  up  the  line  of  march,  eighty 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  C21 

in  the  vfin,  the  trains  in  the  centre,  Donal  Coom  with  two  liuiulrcd 
bring'ing  up  the  rear.  At  Aughrini,  a  spot  destined  for  a  less  fortu- 
nate engagement  fi)r  Irish  independence  ninety  years  hiter,  they 
encountered  Richard  Burke,  Thomas,  brother  of  Chmrickard,  and 
Henry  Malby  witli  a  hirge  force.  The  van  broke  and  fled.  The 
rest,  after  being  exhorted  by  their  leader,  proceeded  to  occupy  a 
suitable  position  for  defence  not  far  off,  and  had  hardly  reached  it,  in 
some  disorder,  when  the  enemy,  who  had  sought  to  anticipate  them, 
came  up  to  receive  a  deadly  fire  of  musquetry  which  killed  eleven  of 
them.  In  the  engagement  which  ensued,  ]Malby,  Kicliard  Burke  and 
one  hundred  of  the  royalists  fell ;  the  rest  taking  refuge  in  the  castle. 
The  catholic  train,  left  unguarded  in  the  conflict,  Avas  plundered,  but 
the  victors  found  some  compensation  in  the  spoils  abandoned  by  the 
vanquished. 

Passing  swiftly  through  Ilymany,  near  Kelley  castle,  they  shel- 
tered themselves  in  the  forests  of  Ballinlough,  in  Koscommon,  but 
still  in  peril  left  their  couches  of  stone  in  the  darkness,  and  that 
night  hurried  through  the  deep  snow  to  Drambrach,  where  they  fin- 
ished their  interrupted  slumbers.  Here  the  neighbors,  generously 
disregarding  the  penalty  attached  to  giving  food  to  rebels,  provided 
them  Avith  w^hatever  they  needed,  and  a  horse  for  O'Connor,  whose 
feet  were  blistered  and  frozen,  but  who  bore  his  excruciating  agony 
with  great  fortitude.  Without  guides,  ignorant  of  their  way,  if  the 
night  clear  the  stars  screened  by  the  thick  branches,  their  dangers 
multiplied.  In  the  midst  of  their  perplexities  a  man  in  linen  gar- 
ments, barefooted,  Avith  a  AA'hite  cloak  about  his  head  and  staff  in  his 
hand,  presented  himself  and  offered  to  guide  them  to  Leitrim,  castle 
of  O'Rourke,  some  tAA^elve  miles  distant.  Hesitating  at  first  lest  he 
might  betray  them,  reassured  they  placed  themselves  under  his  guid- 
ance, and  their  chief  paid  him  tAVO  hundred  pieces  of  gold,  Avhich  he 
courteously  accepted.  Sleeping  that  night  at  Knocvicar,  in  the 
Curlew  mountains  near  Boyle,  the  next  morning  their  guide,  telling 


622  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

them  that  all  danger  was  past,  pointed  out  to  them  in  the  distance 
their  destination  and  dissappeared.  Before  noon  they  reached  the 
castle,  but  thirty-five  in  number,  aD  that  remained  of  the  four 
hundred  who  had  left  Glengariff  twenty  days  before,  the  rest  having 
deserted  or  been  disabled  or  slain  by  the  way.  Of  these  only  eight- 
een were  armed  men.  One  of  the  party  was  Joanna,  mother  of  the 
historian,  who  had  accompanied  this  march  in  the  dead  of  winter, 
and  lived  on,  notwithstanding  its  exposures,  for  thirty  years  after.* 
They  were  warmly  welcomed  and  hospitably  entertained  by  O'Rourke, 
with  whom  they  found  Maguire,  chief  of  Fermanagh,  and  Mac  Wil- 
liam, chief  of  Mayo. 

There  for  some  days  they  rested  ;  when  eager  to  aid  Tyrone,  Ma- 
guire, Donal  Coom  and  Tyrrel,  with  three  hundred  men,  started  to 
join  him  in  Glenconquin.  Their  route  lay  south  of  lough  Erne, 
which  was  guarded  by  hostile  forts,  and  three  rivers  over  its  tributa- 
ries were  to  be  passed,  which  they  eifected  by  aid  of  boats  covertly 
provided  by  their  friends.  They  had  already  crossed  that  at  Beltur- 
bet,  when  the  English,  Maguire,  McLaughlin  and  Esmond  with  five 
hundred  men,  not  knowing  they  were  over,  ensconced  themselves  in 
ambush  near  the  ford  to  waylay  them.  They  bivouacked  that  night 
four  miles  beyond,  and  discovering  on  the  morrow  the  camp  of  their 
assailants  about  that  same  distance  farther  on,  amply  supplied  with 
herds  and  much  else  they  valued,  took  possession,  having  despatched 
the  guard  of  fifty  left  in  charge.  Maguire,  with  two  hundred  men, 
sallied  forth  in  search  of  adventure,  hoping  to  damage  the  foe,  whilst 
Donal  Coom,  setting  fire  to  the  tents,  removed  with  the  spoil  into  the 
wood.  The  enemy  informed  by  a  scout  of  what  had  chanced,  and 
hastening  back,  prepared  for  battle.  Donal  drew  up  his  small  force 
so  disposed,  even  the  women  disguised  as  soldiers,  as  to  give  an  im- 

*  Dermot  and  Joanna  died  about  1634  at  Corunna,  at  an  advanced  age ;  Dermot  over  one 
hundred,  as  stated  in  an  elegy,  at  that  time  composed  in  latin,  on  their  death,  by  his  son 
Philip  O'SuUivan  Beare,  prefixed  to  his  History  of  the  War,  ed.  1850. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  023 

prcssion  of  more  formidable  inimbcrs,  and  the  royalists  not  knowing 
jNIaguire  was  absent,  wasted  the  day  in  doubt  what  to  do. 

At  dusk  the  foragers  returned  laden  witii  spoil.  The  royalists 
mortified  at  having  been  duped,  and  their  supplies  of  food  and  })(»w- 
der  a[)2iropriated,  Avithdrew  to  defend  their  strongholds  on  the  islands 
in  the  lake,  till  better  able  to  contend.  The  shore  too  far  off  to  reach 
that  night,  they  betook  themselves  to  an  old  dilapidated  rath,  in 
which  the  O'Xeil,  from  time  immemorial,  had  inaugurated  the  lords 
of  Fermanagh.  But  when,  about  four  hours  after  sunrise,  they  had 
reached  the  water  and  were  about  to  embark,-  Esmond  already  off, 
they  found  themselves  surrounded  by  their  vigilant  foes.  Those  that 
were  able  pushed  on  board  the  boats,  some  of  which  swamped,  others 
leapt  in  their  armor  into  the  water  and  were  drowned.  Many  clung 
by  ropes  to  the  vessels  only  to  present  a  mark  for  volleys  of  mus- 
quetry  from  the  shore.  One  bark,  larger  than  the  rest,  crowded 
with  fugitives  within  and  hemmed  around  with  others  struofi^lino;  to 
get  on  board,  could  not  be  loosed  before  many  were  slain.  Con 
Maguire  and  his  two  sons  found  safety  in  a  small  boat  that  season- 
ably put  off  into  the  lake.  Melaghlin,  with  four  hundred,  perished. 
Seven  strongholds  on  the  island  captured,  their  defenders  expiating 
the  cruelties  of  Kinsale  and  Dunboy,  Esmond  and  Con  routed,  the 
legitimate  chief  of  Fermanagh  was  restored  to  much  of  his  own.* 

Avoiding  the  Engbsh  garrisons,  after  three  days  they  reached 
Glenconquin  to  learn  that  Tyrone  had  submitted.  Maguire,  embraced 
in  the  terms  of  his  surrender,  was  reinstated  ;  O'Conor  Kerry  repair- 
ing to  Scotland,  finding  favor  with  king  James,  being  also  restored 
to  his  territory.  Tyrrel  and  William  Burke,  who  had,  ever  since 
Kinsale,  made  repeated  overtures  for  pardon,  were  pensioned.     Don- 

*  The  line  from  Con,  d.  160.5,  hrother  of  Hugh,  killed  by  St.  Le^er,  is  as  follows  :  ii.  Bri- 
an, restored  to  Tempo  2000  acres  in  extent,  iii.  Hush,  m.  O'Reilly,  iv.  Con,  m.  Mageniiis, 
killed  with  his  whole  regiment  at  Aughrim,  after  annihilating  the  second  English  cavalry. 
V.Brian,  m.  Nugent,  vi.  Philip,  m.  Morris,  vii.  Hugh,  m.  MacNamara,  able,  noble  aiid 
generous,    viii.  Brian,  m.  Baker. 


024  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

al  Coom  retiinicd  to  O'llourke,  against  whom,  in  March,  Lambert 
led  three  thousand  men,  and  for  twelve  days  vainly  endeavored  to 
cross  the  Shannon,  but  they  were  driven  back  by  that  redoubtable 
chief.  Bostock  contrived  to  transport  seven  companies  to  a  peninsu- 
la convenient  for  raiding  Leitrim,-  but  was  killed,  with  many  of  his 
men,  in  a  maraud,  and  the  rest  discouraged  would  have  recrossed  the 
river,  but  the  brother  of  O'Kourke,  w^hose  defection  in  Brefny  broke 
up  the  army  before  Kinsale,  rose  up  against  his  brother,  who  died  in 
a  few  months  of  fever.  Philip  had  sent  by  Cerda  thirty  thousand 
pieces  of  gold  with  supplies  for  Tyrone  and  Rory,  which  arriving 
after  tlie  surrender,  were  sent  back,  MacWilliam  going  in  the  same 
ship,  to  die  soon  after  in  exile.  Two  thousand  sent  by  Cornelius 
O'Driscol  into  Munster,  for  Donal,  were  also  returned. 

When  the  chief  crossed  the  Shannon  with  the  remnant  of  his  peo- 
ple, strife  virtually  ended  in  Munster.  Lixnaw  was  in  covert,  and 
his  brother-in  law,  Donal  of  Dunloh,  eldest  son  of  O'Sullivan  Mor, 
kept  together  a  small  following,  south  of  the  lakes  of  Killarney. 
Wilmot  upon  his  return,  perhaps  from  his  Christmas  festivities, 
found  the  camp  at  Glengariff  abandoned  to  the  wounded  and  sick 
left  to  his  compassion.  This  he  showed  by  putting  them  to  death. 
With  a  garrison  of  one  thousand  men  he  still  held  the  lately  recon- 
structed castle  of  Dunkerron,  near  the  now  beautiful  town  of  Ken- 
mare,  and  under  instructions  from  the  president  wasted  Beare,  sparing 
neither  man  nor  beast.  He  destroyed  houses,  boats,  the  ship  reserved 
to  take  the  survivors  to  Spain,  and  every  human  creature  in  his  path, 
reducing  Ardea  and  Carriganass,  the  last  shelter  of  the  women  who 
fled  to  the  woods,  forcing  Ellen,  wife  of  Donal  Coom,  and  daughter 
of  Dunkerron,  to  seek  refuge  wdth  her  brother  in  Iveragh. 

The  president  despatched  Taafe  and  the  white  knight  with  six 
hundred  horse  and  the  foot  of  Fermoy,  in  pursuit  of  the  sons  of 
Owen,  next  after  Florence  in  the  succession  to  rule  in  Carberry,  who 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  625 

•with  Dermod  O'Driscol,  Mahon  and  some  of  the  MacSwccnys*  were 
in  their  own  country  but  in  arms.  Many  fell  on  either  side  in  skir- 
mish, on  one  occasion  the  royalists  being  badly  beaten.  On  the 
fifth  of  January,  some  of  the  Maccarthies  cut  off  from  their  main 
body  were  routed,  when  the  white  knight  pursuing  lost  two  of  his 
fingers  in  personal  combat  with  O'Crowley  "  the  fierce."  Mac- 
Eagan,  papal  bishop  of  Ross,  was  slain  in  the  fight,  and  another 
ecclesiastic,  Dermot  Maccarthy,  who  had  signalized  his  faith  by  care 
of  the  wounded  and  dying  of  both  sides,  was  captured.  Carried  to 
Cork,  he  was  draAvn  at  the  tail  of  a  horse  through  the  villages,  quar- 
tered and  disembowelled,  and  half  dead  executed  on  the  scaffold, 
with  the  barbarity  that  marked  the  period.  The  chiefs  submitted  and 
were  taken  under  protection. 

Carbery  ravaged,  no  power  anywhere  existed  to  curb  the  merciless 
despotism  which  rioted  in  rapine  and  death  over  the  land,  crushing 
in  deadly  folds  the  marrow  from  its  bones,  whatever  remained  of  its 
spirit  or  vitality.  The  destruction  of  the  crops  the  previous  summer 
had  been  so  complete,  that  pestilence,  which  follows  famine,  found  little 
to  consume.  The  same  desolation  that  marked  the  close  of  the  Des- 
mond war,  twenty  years  before,  again  brooded  over  Munster. 

Then,  disputes  growing  out  of  the  ill-starred  dowry  of  Ormond's 
mother  and  Desmond's  wife,  drenched  their  palatinates  in  blood. 
Peter  Carew,  later,  to  gain  Idrone  slaughtered  the  Kavanaghs.  The 
president,  either  for  his  niece  or  for  himself,  coveted,  as  his  papers 
show,  what  Henry  II.  four  centuries  before  gave  to  Fitzstephen, 
half  the  kingdom  of  Maccarthy  Mor,  extending  from  Limerick  to 
Lismore,  all  Cork  and  Kerry.  It  did  not  signify  that  in  1333,  by 
English  forms,  Fitzstephen  had  been  pronounced  illegitimate  and  had 
never  married,  that  the  marquis  of  Carew,  neither  as  nephew  or  by 
marrvino;  his  daughter,  ever  became  entitled  to  inherit  what  he  never 

*  The  line  of  Tuath :— i.  Maelmora.    ii.  Donogh.    iii.  Morogh.   iv.  Donogh.   v.  Turlogh. 
Ti.  Edmund  (1835). 

19 


626  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

possessed,  or  that  for  three  centuries  the  present  proprietors  had  held. 
Nor  did  it  prove  an  obstacle  to  the  recovery  of  Idrone,  that  links  in 
the  pedigree  rested  on  conjecture  or  violent  assumption.  The  same 
claim  had  been,  then  and  since,  asserted  to  all  Munster,  and  it  was 
well  understood  that  if  circumstances  favored,  it  Avould  be  pushed. 
It  was  much  as  if  the  chiefs  and  clans  dispossessed  by  Cromwell  or 
Orange,  should  in  some  future  change  of  political  power  claim  to 
be  reinstated.  The  chiefs  menaced,  while  sufficiently  wary  to  avoid 
committing  themselves,  naturally  looked  to  Spain  for  protection 
from  these  monstrous  pretensions,  and  loved  their  own  faith  the  more 
for  what  they  saw  of  protestant  profligacy  in  this  unscrupulous  greed 
for  what  belonged  to  them. 

Carew  left  no  descendants,  and  his  honored  name  has  been  too 
variously  distinguished  to  suffer  from  his  claims  or  crimes.  Highly 
educated,  of  refined  habits  and  polished  manners,  able  and  brave  but 
arrogant  and  unscrupulous,  he  was  utterly  without  moral  sense,  of 
a  cold  heart  and  malignant  temper.  His  correspondence,  which  he 
took  pains  to  preserve,  proves  that  he  employed  Anias  to  make  away, 
by  assassination,  with  Florence,  O'Conor  with  the  sugan,  Nugent 
with  Sir  John  Fitzgerald,  Blake  with  Tyrconnel.  He  hung  prisoners, 
massacred  women  and  children,  tortured  priests.  That  he  should 
have  been  a  favorite  with  the  cold  and  cruel  Tudor,  whose  favor  he 
courted  by  the  most  abject  subserviency,  is  less  strange,  than  that  he 
stood  well  with  Cecil  and  Blount.  Their  record  in  Irish  administration 
is  by  no  means  fleckless,  still  they  had  the  grace  at  times  to  disapprove 
of  what  he  did  or  intended.  If  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  the  spirit 
of  the  times,  there  are  bad  men  in  power  at  all  epochs,  and  will 
never  be  less  unless  duly  stigmatized.  He  went,  in  January,  to  Gal- 
way  to  confer  with  the  deputy,  and  in  March  proceeded  to  the  couch 
of  the  dying  queen.  James  created  him  lord  Carew,  Charles  I.  earl 
of  Totness,  and  he  lived  on,  variously  employed,  till  1629. 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  627 


XLVIII. 

REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. — 1558-1602.— (Concluded.) 
Tyrone  improved  the  months  that  he  was  left  unmolested,  in  re- 
organizing his  shattered  army.  Too  wise  and  too  noble  to  repine  at 
events  beyond  his  control,  if  not  providentially  ordained,  he  accepted 
hie  lot  and  applied  himself  to  such  measures  of  preparation  as  his 
judgment  dictated,  to  fend  off  the  blow  he  well  knew  impended. 
With  others,  he  shared  in  the  faith  that  Spain  would  speedily  retrieve 
the  disaster  at  Kinsale,  and  not  leave  a  people  in  jeopardy  she  had 
encouraged  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  faith  and  her  own.  Frequent 
intimations  came  over  the  sea  that  such  indeed  wxre  her  intentions, 
and  rumors  that  armadas,  more  considerable  than  they  actually  were, 
would  be  soon  on  the  way.  But  besides  the  war  in  the  low  country, 
her  peaceable  relations  witli  France  had  become  seriously  compro- 
mised by  revelations  attending  the  conspiracy  of  Byron  against 
Henry  of  Xavarre  ;  an  English  fleet  blockaded  her  ports,  and  besides 
knowing  the  pecuniary  straits  of  the  English  treasury,  much  might 
be  gained  by  delay.  Whilst  there  remained  assurance  of  aid,  no 
course  remained  for  Tyrone  but  to  wait  patiently  and  avoid  rather 
than  seek  occasions  which  might  lessen  his  numbers  or  impair  their 
efficiency. 

Why  the  deputy  failed  forthwith  to  follow  up  his  victory,  has 
been  sufficiently  explained  by  his  heavy  losses  of  men  and  material  in 
the  siege,  and  the  necessity  of  leaving  in  Munster  so  large  a  portion 
of  his  force  to  reduce  Dunboy.  But  another  reason  for  his  inactivity 
was  the  state  of  his  health,  undermined  by  exposure  in  his  winter 
campaigns.  Active  operations  necessarily  deferred,  he  resorted  to 
his  old  methods  of  weakening  the  enemy  by  detaching  from  him  the 
border  chiefs,  and  destroying  the  growing  crops.  As  the  war  had 
already  cost  over  three  millions  of  money,  and  four  hundred  thousand 


628  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

were  expended  this  very  year,  the  queen  -was  impatient  for  peace  and 
wrote  in  August  that  she  would  gladly  pardon  Tyrone  if  he  would 
spare  her  dignity  by  submission.  The  deputy  even  advised  Carew 
to  accept  the  overtures  of  Tyrrel  to  accommodation  if  he  seemed  to 
be  sincere. 

Early  in  June  the  president  reached  Dundalk,  and  on  the  foui-- 
teenth  Armagh,  crossing  the  Blackwater  five  miles  eastward  of 
Portmore.  He  employed  Moryson  in  building  a  bridge  and  a  castle, 
which  he  called  Charlemont  from  his  own  name,  placing  it  in  charge 
of  Caulfield,  whose  descendant  took  later  from  it  his  title  of  earl,  one 
honorable  in  Irish  annals.  From  this  point  there  led  a  plain  and 
open  entrance  into  the  country,  and  as  he  approached  Dungannon, 
Tyrone  set  on  fire  his  chief  residence,  and  carried  his  creaghts  into 
the  woods.  The  deputy  approached  the  place  with  a  small  force  to 
reconnoitre,  and  after  completing  the  works  at  the  river  returned 
there  with  his  whole  army  on  the  twenty-seventh.  Here  Dowcra, 
who  had  advanced  from  lough  Foyle  to  Owmy  with  large  detachments, 
joined  him,  and  after  taking  an  island  where  Con,  son  of  Shane,  had 
long  been  incarcerated,  he  divided  between  him  and  his  brother, 
Henry,  the  waste  lands  between  the  Blackwater  and  Newry.  Effect- 
ing a  junction  with  Chichester  from  Carrickfergus,  he  constructed 
another  fortress  at  lough  Xeagh,  called  Mountjoy  from  his  title,  and 
in  it  placed  a  thousand  men.  He  planted  another  garrison  at 
Augher,  the  castle  of  Cormac  O'Neil. 

Tyrone  took  refuge  in  Slievegallen,  a  wide  tract  of  moor  and 
mountain  extending  from  lough  Foyle  to  lough  Neagh,  portions  of 
what  now  constitute  the  county  of  Tyrone  and  Londonderry,  and 
embracing  Arachty  on  the  Bann.  Completely  hemmed  in  by  his 
foes,  he  kept  up  a  brave  heart,  at  castle  Eoe,  setting  at  defiance  the 
royal  army  now  concentrating  for  his  destruction.  With  the  desire 
of  liberty  in  a  conquered  nation  to  work  upon,  he  maintained  his 
ascendency  over  his  devoted  clansmen,  not  one  of  whom  could  be 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  629 

tempted  by  bribes  to  betray  him.  Before  July  ended,  the  deputy 
marched  to  Monaghan  and  wasted  Dartry,  leaving  strong  garrisons 
there  and  in  Fermanagh,  under  Con  Maguire,  Esmond  and  St.  Law- 
rence, whom  Ave  have  seen  ineffectively  trying  to  take  in  their  toils 
Maguire  and  Donal  Coom.  The  country  still  abounded  in  herds 
and  grain.  Dowcra,  Chichester  and  Moryson  busy  with  the  sickle 
and  the  torch,  utterly  destroyed  whatever  was  good  for  food.  Houses 
and  stacks  in  flames  darkened  the  sky  with  smoke,  cattle  slaughtered, 
whose  carcases,  left  to  decay,  tainted  the  air  with  pestilence  and 
death. 

Magherlowny,  the  principal  abode  of  Tyrone  when  not  at  Dun- 
gannon,  and  his  principal  magazine  of  military  stores,  as  also  Inis- 
loghlin,  near  lough  Xeagh,  Avhere  the  chiefs  of  Ulster  had  deposited 
for  safety  and  concealment  their  plate  and  valuables,  were  reduced. 
The  stone  chair  in  which  were  inaugurated  the  chiefs,  at  Tullaghoge, 
home  of  the  O'Hagans,  was  broken  into  fragments.  Tyrone,  realiz- 
ing castle  Roe  was  no  longer  tenable,  quitted  it  for  Glenconquin, 
through  which  the  Moyala  flows  into  lough  Foyle,  and  thence  went 
south  into  the  wild  and  inaccessible  forests  near  lough  Erne,  a 
fastness  which  a  handful  of  men  could  defend  against  an  army.  His 
numbers  had  dwindled  to  six  hundred  foot  and  sixty  horse,  but  here 
for  three  months  longer  he  kept  at  bay  the  thousands  of  troops  that 
dared  not  venture  within  twelve  miles  of  his  covert.  O'Rourke  still 
unsubdued,  occupied  Lambert  on  the  Shannon ;  Nial  Garve,  his 
brother-in-law  Rory,  capturing  Bally  shannon  and  destroying  Ennis- 
killen.  Bryan  MacArt,  in  Clanaboy,  and  O'Cahan  held  out  for  a 
time,  but  finding  resistance  fruitless  submitted ;  and  when  the  news 
came  of  O'Donnel's  death,  in  October,  his  brother  Rory,  invited  to 
come  in  and  promised  not  only  amnesty  but  confirmation  of  his 
principality,  yielded. 

Tyrone  had  urged  Rory,  O'Conors  Roe  and  Sligo  and  O'Rourke, 
to  meet  him  at  lough  Erne,  to  concert  measures  for  prolonged  resis- 


630  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

tance,  or  combine  on  terms  to  be  proposed  for  accommodation.  All 
but  the  latter  chieftain  had  already  entered  under  protection.  The 
deputy,  after  his  autumn  sport  of  falconry,  proceeded  to  Athlone, 
which  he  advised  in  future  should  be  the  capital,  and  there,  on  the 
fourteenth  of  December,  Rory  and  O'Conor  Sligo  met  him,  and 
keeping  christmas  at  Galway,  and  sending  for  Carew,  he  extended 
the  royal  amnesty  to  O'Conor  Roe,  O'Flahertys  and  MacDermots. 

Again  at  the  capital,  his  attention,  and  that  of  the  council,  was 
occupied  with  the  forlorn  condition  of  the  currency.  The  meas- 
ures adopted  or  suggested,  betrayed  an  amazing  stupidity.  The  point 
of  debasement  reached  was  one-fourth  sterling,  but  impressions  pre- 
vailed that  the  queen's  coin  was  all  base  metal.  She  had  thus  tam- 
pered with  it  to  support  the  war,  calculating  that  out  of  three 
hundred  thousand  pounds  manufactured  for  Ireland,  two-thirds  would 
be  net  profit  for  her.  But  by  constant  return  to  the  offices  of 
exchange  on  both  sides  the  channel,  it  imposed  an  actual  loss  on  the 
treasury,  whilst  importers  made  two  hundred  per  cent,  on  a  trade 
speedily  exhausted,  as  there  was  no  money  to  buy.  Counterfeits 
abounded.  Penalties  attached  to  decrying  the  coin,  or  even  refusal 
to  receive  it.  Distrust  became  universal.  Trade  stood  still,  and 
the  people,  their  crops  destroyed  and  unable  to  obtain  food  from 
abroad,  starved. 

The  terrible  suffering  of  his  people  from  famine  and  pestilence, 
three  thousand  dying  of  starvation  within  his  own  borders,  a  thou- 
sand lying  unburied  between  Toome  and  TuUaghoge,  young  children 
in  one  instance  feeding  upon  the  remains  of  their  mothers  ;  aged 
crones  in  another  killing  and  devouring  a  poor  girl  who  came,  at 
Newry,  to  their  fire  to  warm  herself,  and  similar  tales  of  misery  that 
failed  not  to  reach  him,  wrung  the  heart  of  Tyrone.  He  did  not 
feel  justified  in  prolonging  such  agony  from  any  feeling  of  pride. 
Hope  was  a  long  time  extinguished,  and  having  done  his  utmost 
to  save  his  country  from  calamities,  which  verified  his  foresight,  now 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  631 

that  no  further  effort  of  his  coiikl  avail,  he  made  overtures  of  peace. 
He  wrote  the  deputy  on  the  twelfth  of  November,  to  intimate  his 
willingness  to  become  loyal,  provided  submission  involved  no  terms 
of  humiliation.  These  were  at  first  coldly  received,  but  transmitted 
to  Greenwich,  appeared  there  at  an  opportune  moment  for  their 
acceptance. 

The  approaching  death  of  the  queen  had  its  embarrassments. 
What  political  convulsions  might  follow  the  event  could  not  be  fore- 
seen ;  there  were  rivals  for  her  sceptre,  catholic  as  well  as  protestant, 
and  so  many  of  the  old  faith  remained  in  both  islands,  that  Spain 
might  well  consider  the  conjuncture  propitious  for  another  invasion. 
The  ministers  were  only  too  glad  to  be  relieved  of  further  anxiety 
about  Ireland. 

The  preliminaries  to  negotiation  assented  to,  Moore  and  Godolphin, 
appointed  commissioners  to  arrange  the  terms,  proved  little  exact- 
ing. Among  them  were  full  pardon,  restoration  in  blood  and  remo- 
val of  the  attainder,  full  and  free  exercise  of  religion,  confirmation 
to  hinlself  and  the  other  Ulster  chiefs  of  their  respective  territories, 
excepting  the  Fewes,  held  by  Turlogh  O'Neil,  and  the  county  held 
by  Henry  Oge.  Six  hundred  acres  were  reserved  on  the  Black  water 
to  be  divided  between  the  forts  of  Mountjoy  and  Charlemont.  Ty- 
rone, retaining  his  earldom,  agreed  to  relinquish  the  title  of  O'Neil, 
his  jurisdiction  as  chieftain,  admit  shei'ifFs  and  other  oflficials  into  his 
territories,  and  recalling  his  son  Henry  from  Spain  surrender  him  as 
pledge  for  his  fidelity.  Not  permitted  to  know  that  the  queen  had 
already  expired,  lest  it  should  change  his  purpose,  he  was  taken  to 
Drogheda,  and  at  Mellifont,  on  the  thirtieth  of  March,  made  sub- 
mission before  the  deputy  on  his  knees,  a  humiliation  then  imposed 
as  fitting  retribution  for  resisting  authority  whether  just  or  unjust. 

They  went  together  to  the  capital,  and  there  the  earl  repeated  his 
protestations  of  future  fidelity  to  the  queen,  and  after  the  ceremony 
was  completed  first  became  apprized  of  the  royal  demise.     He  re- 


632  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

gretted  his  precipitation,  for  at  first  it  encouraged  hopes  to  be  bitterly 
disappointed  in  the  sequel.  Tears  which  started  at  the  tidings  were 
ascribed  to  affection  for  Elizabeth,  but  another  construction  to  his 
grief  was  that  he  had  not  held  out  longer  and  made  better  terms. 
It  was  too  late.  He  acknowledged  fealty  to  king  James,  and  wrote 
the  king  of  Spain  to  inform  him  of  his  course  and  to  request  that 
his  son  Henry  might  be  sent  home  to  Ulster. 

Nial  Garve  had  to  content  himself  with  the  title  of  baron  which 
he  resented,  and  denouncing  the  bad  faith  of  England  before  the 
council,  not  recognizing  his  own  which,  with  Sir  Arthur  O'Neil's,  had 
ruined  his  country.  The  times  were  not  rife  for  wholesale  spoliation, 
and  satisfied  with  subjecting  the  island,  that  was  reserved  for  the 
fulness  of  time.  Donal  Coom  was  exempted  from  pardon,  and  going 
into  Spain  received  monthly  three  hundred  pieces  of  gold,  and  was 
created  count  of  Bearehaven,  Beare  vesting  in  his  kinsman,  son  of 
Sir  Owen.  Waterford,  Cork  and  Limerick  attached  to  the  catholic 
faith,  declared  against  king  James,  and  reopened  their  chapels  for 
its  rites,  but  were  soon  suppressed,  and  a  new  era  of  Irish  history 
commenced. 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  633 


XLIX. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  faith,  race  and  nationality,  neutral  and  impartial,  we  have 
endeavored  to  present  the  leading  incidents  of  that  momentous 
struggle  for  tribal  or  national  independence,  which  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  seventeenth  century  terminated  in  complete  subjugation 
of  the  island  to  the  English  crown.  After  two  centuries  more  of 
oppression  and  convulsion,  what  little  of  autocracy  survived,  merged 
at  the  union  in  the  omnipotence  of  the  British  parliament.  When 
another  closes,  its  sense  of  right,  no  doubt,  will  have  removed  all 
ground  of  grievance,  discontent  or  disaffection.  For  this  desired 
consummation,  both  law  and  public  sentiment  must  cooperate.  Equal 
privileges,  religious,  social  and  educational,  opportunities  and  prefer- 
ment professional  and  in  the  public  service,  above  all  still  further 
reform  in  land  tenures,  if  nothing  else  prohibition  of  that  usurious 
exaction,  double  rents,  should  leave  no  invidious  distinction  to  create 
jealousy  or  justify  resentment. 

Might  does  not  make  right.  That  the  strong  man  keepeth  the 
house  till  a  stronger  than  he  cometh,  may  be  the  usage  of  the  world, 
but  it  is  a  doctrine  dangerous  to  progressive  civilization,  subversive 
of  justice  and  order.  Vested  interests,  although  originating  in  wrong 
and  robbery,  cannot  safely  be  disturbed.  When  Ireland  was  subju- 
gated at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  one  half  its  area 
had  already  been  transferred  to  owners  of  English  birth,  ancestry  or 
name,  largely  under  parchment  titles  which  were  to  gain  validity  and 
force  as  English  rule  acquired  stability  and  spread.  Besides  Meath 
and  the  pale,  nearly  all  Leinster,  half  of  Munster,  small  portions  of 
Connaught  and  the  east  of  Ulster  had  been  wrested  from  Milesian 
chiefs  and  septs,  and  the  actual  tillers  of  the  soil,  as  the  inhabitants 

generally  of  the  older  race,  were  liable  to  be  ousted  at  the  will 
80 


634  TRANSFEK      OF      ERIN. 

of  alien  landlords.     Resistance  continued  feebly  and  without  other 
effect  than  to  bring  down  on  the  doomed  land  measureless  calamity. 

What  remained  in  Irish  ownership  yielded  slowly  and  steadily 
to  superior  numbers,  arms,  education  and  cupidity  ;  to  private  greed, 
legal  chicanery  and  arbitrary  legislation,  till  before  the  century  closed 
this  too  had  for  the  most  part  followed,  and  the  recent  census  reveals 
the  strange  result  that  an  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  island  is  vested 
in  other  names  than  those  of  a  race  which,  indicated  by  their  pat- 
ronymics, forms  but  a  small  portion  of  the  whole  population. 

No  reliable  information  has  been  transmitted  as  to  their  whole  num^ 
ber,  or  that  of  the  respective  races,  from  the  twelfth  to  the  seventeenth 
century,  but  probably  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  were  not  one  to 
four  of  the  population  of  the  sister  kingdom,  embracing  England  and 
Wales.  That  they  should  against  such  odds  have  so  long  baffled 
every  attempt  to  subjugate  them,  when  this  disparity  in  numbers  was 
by  no  means  their  greatest  disadvantage,  speaks  favorably  not  only 
for  their  courage,  but  for  the  sagacious  counsels  that  directed  it. 
No  one  can  study  their  history  or  the  character  of  their  institutions, 
without  bias,  and  not  come  to  the  conclusion  that  their  great  misfor- 
tune was  to  have  been  placed  geographically  within  reach  of  neigh- 
bors so  aggressive,  overbearing  and  powerful  as  the  English. 

Left  to  themselves,  the  septs,  if  occasionally  at  variance,  and 
compelled  for  security  to  form  alliances  and  keep  in  working  order 
their  military  organization,  were  virtually  independent.  They  were 
governed  by  their  own  laws,  and  by  chiefs  to  w^iom  they  were 
devotedly  attached,  and  their  habits  of  life,  when  outside  pressure 
was  removed,  had  elements  enough  of  variety  to  prevent  stagnation. 
If  not  83'stematically  industrious  as  Saxon  yeoman  or  peasant  of 
France,  they  supplied  their  wants  by  tillage,  and  their  numerous 
herds  constituted  their  wealth.  As  their  laws  contain  rules  for  the 
government  of  artificers  of  different  kinds,  the  useful  arts  were  not 
neglected.       Surrounded    by    the    sea,    frequent    intercourse    with 


TRANSFER      OF     ERIN.  635 

France  auti  Spain  afforded  tlicm,  in  exchange  for  their  wool,  wine 
and  clothes. 

For  religious  and  secular  education,  this  home  rule  seemed  equally 
propitious.     Public   documents   that  remain   emanating  from   their 
chieftains,  annals  and  other  works  from  the  many  writers  of  Irisli 
birth  whose  names  and  productions  have  come  down  to  us,  abundantly 
indicate  that  not  only  in  natural  endowment  but  in  culture  they 
were  quite  equal  to  the  Anglo-Xormans,  and  fully  as  competent  to 
govern  themselves.     Conventual  establishments,  if  not  now  as  useful, 
served  then  as  asylums  for  the  infirm  and  unprotected,  kept  alive  a 
spirit  of   devotion,    educated   the   young   and  refined *their  habits. 
The   number,    several   hundred    in   all,    recorded   in    the   Apostolic 
Chamber,  founded  and  endowed  before  the  reformation  in  Ireland, 
testify  not  to  the  superstition  of  the  age,  but  to  the  sense  entertained 
of  their  value.     In  one  instance,  such  a  foundation  was  an  atonement 
for  assassination,  but  they  generally  proceeded  from  an  enlightened 
piety.     The  larger  pi-oportion  were  erected  by  the  chiefs,  all  the 
provinces  contributing ;   and  if  we   may  judge  from  the  exquisite 
remains  of  Holy  cross  or  Mucross  Abbey,  Roscrea  and  Quinn,  there 
may  have  been  more  costly  and  imposing  edifices  in  Avealthier  lands, 
but  few  whose  architectural  beauty  and  adaptation  to  their  intended 
use  surpassed  these    and   many  others  which  might   be   mentioned 
mouldering  about  the  old  island  of  the  saints. 

Private  abodes  corresponded  in  elegance  and  convenience  with 
these  religious  structures.  Blarney  Castle,  dating  from  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  is  still  a  delight  to  every  beholder,  and  had 
civil  war  spared  more  examples  of  the  taste  of  that  period,  they  would 
have  helped  to  disprove  much  that  sounds  harsh  in  recent  criticisms. 
When  castles  were  demolished  in  war  and  rebuilt  in  haste  for 
protection^  little  heed  was  paid  to  symmetry  or  embellishment. 
Many  ruined  edifices  remain  haggard  and  ungraceful,  but  they  were 
as  often  the  work  of  English  as  of  Irish  men.     The  vulgar  plainness 


636  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

of  some  old  Irish  cities,  in  marked  contrast  to  those  of  the  continent, 
speaks  in  terms  not  to  be  mistaken  of  the  puritan  notions  of 
Cromwell  and  his  ironsides.  Disingenuously  native  chieftains 
would  be  held  responsible  for  hills  and  moors  denuded  of  their 
natural  garniture.  This  was  not  their  work,  but  adventurers  wishing 
to  realize,  before  their  grants  were  reclaimed,  cut  off  the  forests. 
Much  was  wasted  or  went  to  operate  unprofitable  mines.  If  left  to 
the  beneficent  design  of  Providence  mould  would  have  accumulated, 
and  mountain  slopes,  now  unsightly  ledges,  have  furnished  the  best 
of  pasturage. 

As  an  indication  of  the  rudeness  of  manners  prevailing  at  that 
time  in  the  principal  abodes  of  the  island,  the  habit  is  instanced  of 
housing  cattle  under  the  same  roof  with  the  master.  This  precau- 
tion against  predatory  neighbors  or  siege  was  not  peculiar  to  Ireland, 
but  to  all  lands  exposed  to  disturbance.  In  large  castles,  either 
around  or  within  their  walls,  capacious  enclosures  were  provided  into 
which  flocks  and  herds  were  driven  at  night,  or  when  there  was 
apprehension  of  maraud.  It  was  a  custom  not  unknown  a  few  gene- 
rations ago  in  New  England,  for  in  a  house  of  the  Went  worths, 
near  Portsmouth,  the  cellars  were  arranged  for  cattle  or  for  cavalry 
mounts  at  least  half  a  hundred  when  Indian  depredation  was 
imminent. 

If  daughters  of  noble  degree  hovered  in  light  attire  around  the 
family  hearth  in  princely  dwellings,  the  elegances  of  modern  life 
were  not  then  common,  if  we  may  credit  authority,  even  in  kings' 
palaces.  What  few  comforts  Irish  castles  had  to  offer  were  at 
the  disposal  of  whoever  came  with  friendly  purpose.  Hospitality, 
next  to  courage,  was  the  cardinal  virtue.  Two  thousand  persons, 
rich  and  poor,  as  we  have  seen,  partook  of  the  Christmas  banquet 
at  one  castle  ;  as  many  olavs,  poets,  historians  and  other  learned 
persons  for  several  days  on  other  occasions.  Harp  and  minstrelsy 
and  intellectual  entertainments  of  high  order  afforded  recreation  to 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  637 

the  concourse  assembled.  The  chiefs  hall  was  ever  open  to  his 
clansmen  or  to  strangers,  and  no  one  sent  unsatisfied  away.  Who- 
ever has  examined  the  laws  of  Ireland,  or  is  familiar  with  what  has 
been  transmitted  of  its  chieftains,  must  admit  they  could  not  have 
been  cruel  task-masters,  or  oppressors  of  their  clansmen.  The  relation 
was  precisely  that  best  calculated  to  produce  the  wise,  just,  efficient 
ruler ;  with  character  to  stand  the  test  of  constant  scrutiny  ;  habits, 
not  only  of  command  and  self-control,  but  of  genei'ous  and  unceasing 
consideration  for  kindred,  near  or  remote,  who  of  their  own  accord 
entrusted  themselves  to  his  leadership. 

Sophistry  and  perversion  of  fact  are  near  akin.  That  the  Nor- 
man chiefs  were  born  rulers  of  men,  and  therefore  entitled  to  gov- 
ern Ireland,  is  quite  untenable  in  the  light  either  of  historical  evi- 
dence or  of  moral  principle.  Their  valor,  clothed  in  impenetrable 
steel,  may  be  conceded,  and  they  possessed  advantages  for  education 
which  in  itself  is  power.  But  as  to  their  giving  security  to  life  or 
property,  and  enabling  those  who  cared  to  be  industrious  to  reap 
the  fruits  of  their  labors  without  fear  of  outrage  or  plunder,  the 
protection  they  afforded  was  that  of  wolves  to  lambs.  Under 
color  of  royal  grants,  readily  procured  from  their  influence  at 
court,  they  despoiled  the  defenceless  without  mercy  or  compunc- 
tion. The  pretension  that  they  strove  to  govern  the  country  not 
as  a  vassal  province  but  as  a  free  nation,  to  extend  to  her  the 
forms  of  English  liberty,  trial  by  jury,  local  courts,  and  parliamen- 
tary representation  is  utterly  fallacious.  The  results  abundantly 
show  that  the  earnest  request  of  the  chiefs  for  one  law  for  both  races 
was  frustrated  through  their  intervention. 

The  imputation  that  life  was  so  little  valued  that  those  who  took 
it  were  allowed  to  make  reparation  by  cattle,  was  not  strictly  true, 
for  in  the  "Four  Masters,"  the  life  of  a  chief's  son  is  demanded  in 
one  instance  as  the  fitting  amends.  Erics  for  murder  were  not 
peculiar  to  Ireland,  but  common  as  well  to  German  and  Saxon.     This 


638  TRANSFER     OF      ERIN. 

lenity  is  certainly  in  contrast '  with  the  stern  severities  of  English 
law,  under  which  seventy  thousand  persons  were  hung  under  the 
Tudors,  and  poisoners  boiled.  In  the  last  century,  an  Englishman 
could  commit  one  hundred  and  sixty  offences  punishable  with  death, 
and  his  wife  be  burnt  as  a  witch.  Some  of  the  Brelion  regulations 
seem  irrational  in  the  light  of  modern  civilization,  but  our  modern 
statute  books  will  not  probably  better  stand  the  test  in  ages  to 
come. 

In  their  taste  for  detraction,  the  works  referred  to  berate  both  races 
alike.  They  gloat  over  Avhat  has  been  said  to  the  disadvantage  of 
either.  Their  seeming  candor  might  mislead,  did  not  the  drift  of  their 
strictures  and  defence  of  the  harshest  measures  of  English  policy 
betray  their  inspiration.  Their  object,  hoAvever  disguised,  is  obviously 
to  decry  the  old  chieftains  and  foster  in  Irish  minds,  as  education 
opens  their  eyes  and  gives  importance  to  their  opinion,  respect  for 
their  present  masters.  They  make  no  discrimination  between  Irish 
birth  and  race.  Silken  Thomas,  son  of  Kildare,  Avho  with  his  five 
uncles  were  hung  at  Tyburn  in  1536,  had  hardly  a  drop  of  Milesian 
blood  in  his  veins.  His  family  were  educated  in  England,  Angliores 
Anglis.  He  was  near  by  when  Archbishop  Allen  Avas  slain,  and  this 
is  cited  as  proof  of  Irish  barbarism.  The  English  later  betra3'ed 
Catholic  bishops  and  priests  to  torture  and  death  by  the  score,  they 
subjected  old  men  and  women  to  thumb  screw  and  boot,  to  lash  and 
starvation  without  mercy,  but  these  are  considered  no  crime. 

If  Ireland  possesses  few  national  works  of  art,  the  wealth  that 
should  foster  the  genius  of  her  children  is  squandered  by  absentee 
proprietors  ;  but  Reynolds  and  Shea  were  presidents  of  the  Royal 
Academy.  The  mother  of  Goldsmith,  whose  "  Vicar  of  Wakefield  " 
next  to  the  Bible  is  the  book  most  read  in  the  language,  derived  from 
the  Dalgais  ;  Wellington  was  Irish  born  and  had  no  doubt  Milesian 
blood  in  his  veins ;  certainly  in  those  of  the  hero  of  Magenta,  the 
present  sagacious  ruler  of  France,  trickles  that  of  all  the  best  stock 


TRANSFER     OF     ERIN.  639 

in  Ireland  of  cither  r.acc.  Innumerable  generals  and  statesmen  in 
every  part  of  the  globe  have  given  good  proof  of  their  political 
sagacity,  lent  lustre  to  honored  names,  showing  it  was  not  necessary 
for  their  countrymen  to  seek  for  rulers  amongst  a  people  by  nature 
too  domineering  to  be  trusted  wath  any  such  responsibility.  Whilst 
Irishmen  bear  in  mind  the  O'Xeils,  O'Briens,  McCarthys  of  earlier 
times,  or  in  those  more  recent,  Burke,  Sheridan  and  Moore,  Curran, 
Grattan  and  O'Connel,  transcendant  in  eloquence  or  letters,  they  will 
not  be  troubled  by  sneer  or  misrepresentation.  Whilst  such  dispar- 
agement perpetuates  animosity,  there  will  be  no  love  lost  between  the 
sister  islands,  and  from  incompatibility  of  temper,  the  only  alternative 
will  be  separation,  home  rule  and  such  federal  relations  as  work  well 
in  Canada  or  Australia. 

In  the  old  manuscript  records  deaths  in  battle  or  by  violence  are 
frequently  mentioned,  but  this  does  not  prove  bloodshed  more  com- 
mon than  in  France  or  England  at  the  time,  any  more  than  laAvs 
against  murder  on  their  statute-book  indicate  peculiar  proclivities  in 
a  people  to  that  crime.  Such  annals  record  what  is  extraordinary. 
If  in  an  armed  occupation  of  the  country,  as  in  those  of  other 
nations,  their  pages  reek  with  slaughter,  it  is  to  be  attributed  to 
the  false  position  of  the  English,  who  in  utter  disregard  of  all  laws, 
human  or  divine,  were  seeking  to  subjugate  Ireland  because  they 
chanced  to  be  stronge;jt.  China  and  Japan  prudently  closed  their 
gates  against  European  intrusion.  Austria  has  the  same  claims  to 
Italy,  Russia  to  Turkey,  Turkey  to  Greece.  But  all,  unless  uphold- 
ers of  arbitrary  power,  who  believe  half  the  world  booted  and  spurred 
to  ride  hard  the  other  half  bitted  and  bridled,  rejoice  when  the  rider 
is  thrown. 

Irishmen  are  reproached  for  their  restlessness  under  injury  and 
insult,  and  with  curious  inconsistency  that,  while  in  number  but  one- 
sixth  of  the  population  of  tlie  realm,  disarmed,  strangers  on  their 
native  soil,  till  lately  cheated  out  of  their  just  participation  in  industrial 


640  TRANSFER     OF     ERIN. 

pursuits,  and  of  all  opportunity  for  education  or  advancement,  they 
have  not  succeeded  better  in  driving  out  their  oppressors.  Of  English 
origin  and  affection,  Americans  w^ish  well  to  their  mother  country,  but 
as  human  beings  such  taunts,  if  they  do  not  awaken  the  wish,  raise 
reasonable  apprehension  that  retribution  may  be  only  delayed,  and 
that  should  poor  Erin  again  resort  to  violence  to  vindicate  her  rights, 
the  responsibility  will  rest  upon  the  heads  of  her  ungenerous 
defamers. 

It  may  be  idle  to  mourn  over  events  growing  directly  out  of  human 
infirmities,  and  constantly  paralleled  in  other  lands  and  ages.  But 
a  candid  consideration  of  the  past  yields  the  most  valuable  lessons  to 
statesmen  who  control  the  destinies  of  nations.  Had  England  been 
governed  by  a  wise  and  generous  policy  towards  Ireland,  and  respect- 
ed the  rights  and  liberties,  civil  and  religious,  of  its  people,  she 
would  have  been  spared  a  vast  effusion  of  blood  and  waste  of  treas- 
ure, a  heavy  responsibility  for  infinite  misery  and  wretchedness. 
For  all  these  centuries  Ireland  was  an  expense  to  her  treasury.  If 
its  inhabitants  had  been  permitted  equal  privileges  with  her  other 
subjects,  they  would  in  process  of  time  have  become  loyal,  and  ad- 
vancing in  prosperity  and  civilization  contributed  in  a  larger  measure 
to  her  strength.  To  heap  upon  a  favored  few  immense  wealth  which 
added  little  to  their  enjoyment,  the  masses  were  reduced  to  a  condition 
of  predial  servitude. 

The  process,  if  slow,  was  steadily  onward.  Proscribed  for  their 
religious  beliefs,  shut  out  from  the  advantages  of  education,  of  varied 
employment  and  other  civilizing  influences,  dispirited  and  broken- 
hearted, they  that  could  sought  refuge  in  other  lands.  For  such  as 
remained,  labor  without  capital  and  consequently  without  enterprise, 
permitted  no  abiding  interest  in  the  land  it  tilled,  and  withheld  from 
industries  it  preferred  to  benefit  English  rivalry — what  more  deplorable 
condition  can  be  conceived  for  any  people — impoverishment,  aggra- 
vated by  early  and  prolific  marriages  nature  and  religion  prescribed, 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  641 

ate  Jike  a  cankci*.  Despair,  inadequate  nourishment,  enforced  idle- 
ness, if  not  always  repressing  their  inherent  gaiety,  found  temporary 
relief  or  oblivion  in  demoralizing  indulgences,  then  common  to  both 
races  and  all  conditions,  but  which,  where  there  offered  fewer  recrea- 
tions to  take  their  place,  wei'c  less  easily  abandoned.  Already  with 
us  such  reproach  is  rapidly  ceasing  to  attach  to  any  people,  and  in 
this  great  i-eform  of  the  age,  Celts  march  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
the  Saxon  in  the  front. 

Refinements  in  life,  in  food  or  garments,  are  the  growth  of  peace 
and  plenty,  of  culture  and  education,  intercourse  with  lands  more 
advanced  in  these  civilized  arts.  They  were  hardly  to  be  expected 
where  war,  pestilence  and  famine  had  for  generations  wrought  deso- 
lation, for  a  people  by  intolerance  debarred  from  religious  instruction, 
loaded  down  by  rapacity  with  tithe  and  tax,  whom  unequal  distribu- 
tion of  property  through  laws  or  customs  of  primogeniture,  dis- 
couragement of  industry,  inadequate  compensation  for  labor  had 
disheartened  or  incensed.  The  unpleasant  modes  and  usages  Mor- 
rison witnessed  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  probably 
in  instances  exceptional  and  extreme,  are  sufficiently  explained  by 
the  events  we  have  related.  Sad  to  say,  they  may  still  be  observed 
in  many  countries,  even  in  his  own,  under  similar  conditions  pro- 
ceeding from  equally  efficient  causes.  Comforts  and  elegances  that 
attend  wealth  may  raise  the  standards  around  of  taste,  neatness  and 
order,  spreading,  even  where  resources  are  limited  for  their  indul- 
gence, from  palace  to  hut.  But  people  gi'ound  down  by  poverty, 
enraged  by  injustice  and  struggling  hard  for  subsistence,  have  little 
inclination,  or  temper,  to  be  always  nice  in  their  necessary  nourish- 
ments, habits  or  ways.  It  may  be  their  misfortune,  but  the  reproach 
does  not  always  rest  upon  them. 

Sydney  Smith,  an  honored  t}^e  of  the  best  English  development, 
in  expressing,  half  a  century  ago,  his  admiration  for  their  wit  and 
eloquence,   courage,   generosity,   hospitality  and  open-heartednees, 
81 


642  TRANSFER     OF    ERIN. 

alluded  to  their  love  of  display,  want  of  economy  and  perseverance, 
eagerness  for  results  without  the  slow  and  patient  virtues  that  control 
them.  But  he  is  frank  to  admit  that  their  lack  of  unity  among 
themselves,  irritability,  violence  and  revenge,  disregard  of  law  and 
its  tribunals,  of  neatness  and  comfort  among  their  poorer  classes,  were 
attributable  to  want  of  education,  or  the  oppression  to  which  they 
had  been  subjected.  He  pronounces  "  the  conduct  of  his  countrymen 
towards  Ireland  to  have  been  a  system  of  atrocious  cruelty  and  con- 
temptible meanness,  and  that  with  such  a  climate,  such  a  soil  and 
8uch  a  people,  the  inferiority  in  civilization  was  directly  chargeable 
to  the  wickedness  of  the  government." 

This  strong  language,  applicable  also,  in  some  recent  instances, 
to  our  treatment  of  the  Indians,  is  borne  out  by  the  array  of 
penal  enactments  which  he  cites  in  its  support.  These  laws  have 
been  for  the  most  part  repealed,  but  the  history  of  the  past  cannot 
be  understood  without  taking  them  into  account.  Defects  of  char- 
acter which  retarded  improvement  or  blocked  the  path  to  individual 
progress  and  prosperity,  often  charged  as  idiosyncrasies  of  race, 
were  the  natural  and  logical  growth  of  their  political  condition. 
Certainly  here,  where  properly  trained,  they  display  equal  industry, 
frugality,  steadfastness  of  purpose,  loyalty  to  law  and  obligation 
with  any  other  nationality.  So  long  as  English  opinion  exasperates 
by  arrogance,  contumely  or  indifference,  refuses  to  heed  what  is 
advanced  in  good  faith  in  their  defence,  the  realm  will  lose  by  their 
disaffection  an  element  of  strength,  important  for  its  security  and 
also  for  the  preservation  of  those  representative  institutions  which 
we  too  have  inherited  as  our  birthright,  and  believe  to  have  greatly 
improved. 

The  immunity  of  both  countries  from  foreign  assailants,  may  at 
times  be  dependent  upon  their  political  consolidation,  but  persecution 
has  only  served  to  strengthen  the  attachment  of  catholics  to  their 
faith,  and  there  can  be  no  loyalty  to  a  government  felt  only  in  op- 


TRANSFER      OF      ERIN.  643 

pression.  More  liberal  measures  have  already  been  adopted.  Ten- 
ures have  been  made  more  permanent  for  those  that  till  the  soil, 
education  more  universal,  suffrage  extended,  funds  consecrated  to 
religious  instruction  no  longer  one  sixth  only  appropriated  to  the 
benefit  of  three-fourths  of  the  people,  but  more  justly  divided.  ^luch 
remains  to  be  effected  with  regard  to  trade,  taxation  and  official  pat- 
ronage, but  all  interested  in  the  welfare  of  Ireland,  or  indeed  of  the 
empire  from  which  we  so  largely  derive  our  existence  in  this  country, 
justly  claim  an  interest  in  what  conduces  alike  to  the  glory  and  honor 
of  rose,  shamrock  and  thistle.  Rancor  for  ancient  wrongs  throws 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  reparation,  renders  more  insupportable 
existing  restraints.  But  religious  toleration,  equality  before  the  law, 
blending  of  nationalities  are  indispensable  to  tranquillity,  progress 
and  strength. 

It  behooves  us  to  study  the  history  of  Ireland  with  peculiar  at- 
tention. Its  lessons  and  warnings  teem  with  significance.  For 
grievances  far  less  bitter  and  intolerable  than  hers  under  Tudor  and 
Stuart  monarchs,  we  declared  and  asserted  our  independence.  When 
we  grow  cold  and  indifferent  to  our  political  blessings,  prize  less 
our  free  institutions  than  our  ancestors  who  planted  them,  its 
pages  will  teach  us  the  danger  we  escaped  in  casting  off  a  foreign 
yoke,  the  deplorable  consequences  of  forfeiting  our  birthright,  of 
relapsing  under  arbitrary  rule.  That  rule  may  return,  not  in  the 
guise  of  royal  prerogative  or  alien  legislation.  Human  nature  unre- 
strained by  principle  or  law  is  ever  selfish  and  domineering.  Des- 
potism is  equally  detestable  whether  imposed  from  abroad,  by  party 
power  or  individual  ambition,  by  infuriated  mobs  or  communes,  an 
absolute  monarch  or  class  control.  Our  best  safeguards,  if  we 
would  avoid  the  misrule  of  Ireland,  subjection  to  tyranny  or  caprice 
of  the  arrogant,  are  the  preservation  of  our  constitutional  checks  and 
balances,  just  and  equal  laws  faithfully  administered  by  virtue  and 
intelligence,  a  spirit  of  compromise  and  conciliation,  which,  respect- 


644  TRANSFER      OF      ERIN. 

ing  right  and  susceptibility  in  all,  will  disarm  antagonisms  such  as 
have  tormented,  torn  and  impoverished  lands  beyond  the  sea.  We 
may  then  defer  to  a  later  day,  and  may  it  be  far  removed,  the  study 
of  how  the  republic  of  Rome  succumbed  to  the  Caesars. 

English  writers  discuss  what  concerns  other  nations  without  reserve, 
and  especially  our  own,  whilst  Americans,  firm  believers  in  equal 
rights  before  the  law  and  to  political  privilege,  have  rarely  been 
zealous  in  making  proselytes.  But  when  appeal  was  taken  to  public 
opinion  here,  where  multitudes  had  come  to  escape  from  conditions 
at  home  no  longer  to  be  endured,  in  cities  of  which  the  inhabitants 
of  Irish  birth  or  parentage  form  one-third  of  the  whole  jiopulation, 
when  obloquy  was  cast  on  their  own  character  and  that  of  their  fathers, 
on  their  history  and  traditions  by  writers  of  ability  disposed,  if  not 
prejudiced,  rather  to  dazzle  than  instruct,  it  suggested  inquiry  and 
prompted  investigation  confined  to  neither  race  nor  sect.  Out  of  that 
desire  for  fair  play  grew  this  volume,  deriving  its  material  from  both 
ancient  sources  and  recent  publications,  and  it  is  believed  to  embody 
information  scholars  of  Irish  history  on  this  side  the  ocean,  at  least, 
may  find  of  value  for  the  period  of  which  it  treats.  If  presumj^tion 
for  an  American  to  venture  upon  such  a  field,  or  to  controvert  con- 
clusions of  authors  of  better  opportunities  and  more  widely  known, 
the  motive  must  justify  the  temerity. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES. 


Acres,  Joan  d',  132 

Adrian  IV.,  13 

Adair.  169 

Agard,  295 

Allen,  192,  262,  263,  267,  268,  272,  282, 

285,  307,  317.  342,  344 
Amand,  St.,  144,  200 
Angle,  del',  21 
Anderson,  108 
Anne  of  Bohemia,  148 
Anne  of  Cleves,  291,  308 
Archer,  30,  558,  615 
Arch  da  II,  106 
Ardgall,  184 
Arnold,  Matthew,  102 
Arran,  348 
Artois,  d',  156,  210 
Arundel,  348 
Ashburnham,  102 
Atkins,  108 
Aylmer,  319,  337 

B 

Bacon,  349 

Baggot,  30 

Bagnal,  438,  490,  495,  502,  531 

Bale,  328,  329 

Barret,  60,  68,  188,  209 

Barron,  77 

Barry,  192,  &c. 

Becket,  25 

Bedford,  504 

Bell,  48 

Bellew,  168 

Belling,  104,  105 

Bellingham,  276 

Betham,  105 

Bingham,  520 

Bis:set,  de,  127 

Bleete,  54,  59 

Bligh,  51 

Blod,  54 


Blount,  548,  574,  575,  577,  584,  585,  580, 

589,  601,  605 
Boeck,  114 
Bohun, de, 133 
Bulger,  41 

Boleyn,  Ann,  334;  Sir  William,  199 
Both  well,  349 
Bourgh,  524 
Boyle,  253,  496,  571 
Brabazon,  295 
Bradley,  45 
Brady,  48 
Brakespear,  11 
Branagan,  41 
Brandon,  69 
Braose,  de,  13,  26,  29 
Breasil,  232 
Brennan,  41, 49 
Brereton,  350 
Breslan,  49 

Brien,  16,  194,  190,  198,  277.  298,  304 
Brien,  17,  54,  55,  56,  62,  72,  73,  108,  129, 

130,  151,  203,  216,  323,  324 
Brodar,  41 
Brogan ,  48 
Bromley,  316 
Brooks,  535 

Browne,  285,  289,  316,  326 
Bruce,  33, 127 
Bruce,  33,  127,  128 
Brunc, 36, 229 
Bruodine,  105 
Bryan,  308,  318,  319,  362 
Burgh,  de,  21,  24,  26,  50,  58,  59,   126, 

130,  131,  143,  149,  297,  &c. 
Burghersh,  127 
Burke,  11,  21,  24,  27,  33,  34,  51,  59.  66, 

108,  131,  160,  161,  173,  288,  304,  324 
Burton,  139 
Butler  25   &c. 
Byrne,' 39,' 108^  126,  144,  162,  172,  176, 

263,  295,  327,  329,  330 
Byron,  504 


6A6 


INDEX     OF     NAMES 


0 

Caemlain,  97 

Cahany,  51 

Cahill^  52 

Cahir,  303,  477,  524,  586 

Cairneck,  81 

Callaghan,  51,  107 

Callanan,  52 

Campbell,  309,  344,  506 

Campeggio,  289 

Caulfield,  584 

Camden,  441 

Campion,  311 

Caobdoch,  43 

Carey,  347 

CarruU,  304,  427,  477,  524,  586 

Carter,  437,  485 

Casey,  37 

Cassidy,  47 

Carew,  385,  386,  410,  445,  563,  564,  569, 
573,  585 

Cathlain,  450 

Cavanash,  17,  41,  59,  296,  310,  317,  318, 
387,  392,  394,  395,  399,  407,  414,  420, 
421,  424,  425,  427,  432,  433,  447,  500, 

516,  520,  530,  540,  549,  588,  604 
Cecil,  354,  355,  379,  398 
Ceallachan,  54 

Cearbhall,  115 

Chamberlain,  30 

Charles  v.,  346 

Chase,  30 

Chattan,  30 

(JhicIiBstsr  577 

Clancarre,  59,  417,  420,  443,  444,  451 

Clancarthy,  458 

Clanrickard,  296,  319,  338,  353,  367,  394, 
395,  .399,  407,  414,  420,  421,  424,  425, 
427,432,433,447,516,  520,  530,  540, 
549,  588,  604 

Clare,  27,  63,  132 

Clarence,  24,  25 

Clery,  36,  45,  48,  49,  81,  98,  102,  103, 
523 

Clifford,  27,  76 

Coffey,  42 

Coghlan,  42 

Colteran,  47 

Condon,  129 

Connor,  43,  49,  50,  95,  128, 133,  161,  183, 
184,  228,  253,  258,  295,  297,  303,  305, 
327,  420,  433,  448,  449,  465,  466,  478, 

517,  527,  528,  543,  549,  555,  561,  562, 
563,  &c. 

Conroy,  50 
Constable,  594 
Conlan,  68 
Coote,  48 
Corrigan,  42,  51 
Coleman,  51 
Colgan,41,47,  105 


Connolly,  42 

Cosbie,  432 

Cos^ry,  41 

Copley,  494 

Cowley,  52 

Courcy,  443 

Courtney,  485 

Cox, 431 

Cranmer,  309,  316,  317,  334,  336 

Crimthan,  44,  53 

Crofts,  319,  322,  324,  326,  328 

Crofton,  30 

Croker,  106 

Crowley,  74 

Cronelly,  106 

Cromer,  289 

Cromwell,  30,  36 

Cuilmen,  102 

Cullen,41,52,  68 

Cullenan,65,  66,  97 

Cumhall,  99,  100 

Cummings,  30,  51 

Cuire,  67 

Curwin,  503 

Curry,  53 

Curran,  45,  46,  65 

CuBack,  30,  51,  105,  107,  108 

Cymbaeth,  119 

D 

Daire,  81,  96 

Daley,  44,  48,  52,  71,  106,  109,  168,  311, 
608,  610 

Dalton,  167 

Danaans,  36,  37,  80,  87,  112,  117 

Davis,  10,  26,  105,  109,  121 

Davers,  519 

Delhahide,  251,265 

Delamare,  248 

Delvin,  209,  260,  237,  331,  379,  391 

Dempsey,  29,  41,  144,  168,  176,  242,  248, 
296,  341,  343 

Den,  30 

Denny,  30,  309,  316 

Derby,  20 

Derforguille,  13,  362 

Desmond,  13,  17,  18,  19,  20,  23,  29,  33, 
59,  76,  77,  123,  124,  127,  132,  136,  138, 
186,  187,  188,  189,  213,  243,  245,  248, 
249,  251,  260,  261,  263,  269,  273,  274, 
277,  280,  282,  283,  286,  304,  306,  308, 
319,  341,  344,  353,  367,  397,  398,  399, 
400,  401,  402,  403,  404,  405,  406,  408, 
416,  418,  423,  428,  437,  438,  440,  441, 
442,  444,  447,  453,  456,  45S,  459,  462, 
464,  467,  470,  475,  484,  511,  542,  549, 
550,  566 

Dethyke,  264 

Devereux,  30,  127,  548 

Devlin,45,  243,  251 

Dexter,  32,  209,  248 


INDEX     OF     NAMES. 


()47 


Dillon.  30,248 

DoliertY.  43,  183,  229,  253  258,  303 

Dolan,'48 

Done^an,  50,  67 

Donncl,  19,  34,  43,  45,  94,  151,  152,  162, 
172,  178,  180,  182,  183,  185,  189,  206, 
207,  217.  220,  221,  222,  223,  224,  225, 
226,  231,  237,  339,  340,  344.  345,  352, 
353,  354,  355,  357,  358,  362,  367,  368, 
370,  371,  375,  434,  444,  469,  471,  476, 
488,  489,  494,  492,  496,  498,  499,  .501, 
515,  516,  520,  523,  524.  525,  526,  5.30, 
5.37,  541,  578,  580,  588,  589,  594,  597, 
599,  600  (SeeTyrconnel.) 

Donnellan,  49,  52,  153 

Donnelly,  369 

Donoghue,  56,  137,  154,  189,  205,  248, 
306 

Donuvan,  60,  104,  205,  243,  306 

Dowcra,  575,  579,  587,  590 

Dowd,  44,  49,  51,  165,  180,  223,  232,  248, 
256 

Dowdal,  328,  350,  439,  443,  510,  539 

Dowling,  41,  42 

Dowell,  433 

Doyle,  41 

Drake,  158 

Driscol,  542,  596,  604,  613,  615 

Drury,  316 

Duane,  52 

Dudley,  172,  194,  238,  333,  348,  356 

Dufly,  45,  47,  51 

Dugan,50,  74,  76,  139 

Duigenan,  237,  311 

Dunboyne,  199,  296 

Dunkellin,  551 

Dunlevy,  47 

Dunn.  41,42,  343 

E 
Edgecombe,  214 
Edward  I.,  27,  126 
Edward  II.,  129 
Edward  III.,  129 

Edward  IV.,  206,  208,  209,  212,  341 
Edward  VI.,  315,  326,  328,  329 
Effingham,  376 
Eginund,  336 
Ellis,  336 
Elizabeth,  26,  29,  60,  62,  139,  143,  145, 

183,  192,  198,  199,  206,  208,  209,  212, 

315,  333,  347,  349,  350,  351,  379,  402, 

408   426,  454,  573,  &c. 
Elizabeth  of  France,  348 
Elyot,  384 
Emmett,  108 
Einpson,  291 
Eochaid,  44,  54,  116,  123 
Essex,  316,  378,  387,  421,  513,  520.  524, 

549   550 
Eustace,  190,  199,  209,  216,  260 


Eva,  28,  58,  119,  149 


Fahys,  49,  70 

Faliero,  207 

Fallon,  49,  50,  313 

Falvy,  53 

Farell,  152,  203,  220,  218,  311,  325 

Fay,  319,  320 

Fearcorh,  54 

Feeny,  51 

Feidlim,  130 

Felton,  316 

Fenaghty,  50 

Fen  ton,  458,  490 

Feria,  de,  348 

Ferdinand  of  Austria,  348 

Ferdoragh,321,322 

Ferganin),284 

Fergus,  36,  44,  81,99,  115 

Ferguson,  107 

Ferral,  149,  151,223,387 

Ferrers,  106 

Fiacha,  53 

Finilan,  42 

Finglas,  267,  310 

Fisher,  289 

Fitton,  413,  414,  437,  438,  450,  457,  473, 
485 

Fitz-Anthony.29,  77 

Fitz-Getfroi,  126 

Fitz-Gerald,  20,  27,  28,  58,59,  60,  68,  70, 
74,  107,  126,  132,  150,  192-,  194,  197, 
201,  213,  224,  231,  244,  262,  266,  267, 
268. 269, 270, 271, 306, 334, 385, 419,&c. 

Fitz-Gibbon,  .390 

Fitz-Henry,  21 

Fitz-iMaurice,  23,  28,  58,  137,  150,  284, 
329,  367 

Fitz-Patrick,  13,  338,  380,  388 

Fitz-Stephen,  20,  26,  28,  385 

Fitz- Walter,  34 1,  343 

Fitz-VVilliam,342,  372 

Flaherty,  49,  50,  102,  242 

Flanagan,  37,  49,  50,  102,  242 

Fleetwood,  485 

Fleming,  21,  364 

Fogarty,  25,  59,  66 

Forth.  316 

Fox,  330 

Francis  II.,  349 

Freigne,  de,  21 

Froissart,  210 

Froude,  11,267,321 

Furnival,  127 

G 

Gadbragh,  36 
Galdie,  567 

Gallagher,  43,  151,  224,  253,  258,  452, 
476,  492,  523,  552 


648 


INDEX     OF     NAME  S 


Galvin,  36 

Gara,  37,  51,223,  248 

Gardiner,  334,  340 

Garth,  216,  264 

Geary,  77 

Geraldines,  13,  21,23,  31,34,71,72,  108, 
129,  133,  137,  168,  188,  243,  249,  264, 
2t>6,  267,  269,  270,  271,  275,  276,  281, 
315,  318,  326,  330,  351,  377,  &c. 

Gherardini.  174 

Gibson,  107 

Giltinnen,  47 

Giipatrick,  152,  277,  293,  297,  305,  338 

Glendower,  156 

Gloucester,  146,  148 

Godkin,  108 

Gold,  30 

Gordon,  214 

Gorman,  65,  108 

Gormlaich,201 

Gormley,45,  51,  166 

Gough, 30, 106 

Grady,  51,  64,  68 

Grace,  22,  23, 330 

Graeme,  107,  563 

(jJrandison,  27,  197 

Grattan,  108 

Graves,  106 

Grey,  172,  194,  200,  275,  276,  327,  334, 
353,  381,391 

Griffin,  30,  64,  109 

H 

Hadesor,  John,  196 

Hagan,  46.  64,  67 

Haines,  44,  50 

Halton,  485,  493,  497 

Hall,S.  C,  108 

Hallinan,  68 

Halloran,  49,  52 

Hamilton,  47 

Hampden,  331 

Hanley,  50 

Hanlon.  46,  126,  147,  153,  168,  217,  220, 

248,  373 
Hanralian,  42 
Hanratty,  46 

Hara,  45,  51,  149,  166,  202,  231 
Hare,  64 
Hardy  man,  106 
Harley,  467 
Harpol,  390 
Hart,  108,  256 
Hatchell,  106 
Hartigan,  68,  74,97 
Harty,  42 
Harris,  104 
Harrington,  388 
Harvey,  565,569 
Haugh,  336 
Haver  ty,  104 


Haynes,  50 

Ilealy,  42,  68 

Heher,  13,  36,  43,  49,  58,  81,  99,  109, 

116 
Heifer  man,  64,  67 
Henry  H.,  13,  19,  25,  26,  29,  31,  42 
Henry  HI..  125,  145 
Henry  IV.,  151 
Henry  V.,  170 
Henry  VI.,  158 
Henry  VH.,  188,212,267 
Henry  VHI.,  123,  199,  277,  282,  286,  315 
Herbert,  30,  180,  316 
Heremon,  13,  36,  42,  43,  45,  46,  49,  58, 

81,  109,  112,  116,  344 
Herlihy,  167,311,  435 
Hide,  485 
Higgins,  41 
Hooker,  373,  385 
Honan,  68 
Howard,  347 
Howth,  477,  532,  577 
Hovendan,  389 
Hubbard,  71 
Huntley,  214 
Hussey,  71 
Hy  Brunes,  36 
Hy  Caisin,  64 
Hy  Cormac,  65 
Hy  Felimy,  41,236 
Hy  Fiachra,  49 
Hy  Kinsedlagh,  41 
Hy  Lyhan,  74 

Hy  Many,  52,  132,  139,  152,  181,  185 
HyNial,85 
Hy  Reagan,  41 
Hy  Rongally,  66 
Hy  Tuirtee,  46 


I 


Inchiquin,  521,  525 
Inglis,  108 
Ir,  16,  36,  344 
Ireneus,  105 
Ith,  74,  166.  344 
Ivers,  30,  166 


James  I.,  214 

James  n.,  73,  123 

James  IV.,  214,  223,  240 

James  v.,  229 

JeflFries,  75 

Joan,  Maid  of  Kent,  145 

John  of  Gaunt,  157,  212 

Jones,  499 

Jordan,  51 

Joyce,  106,  &c. 


Keating,  578 
Keefe,  74,  76,  567 


K 


INDEX    OF     NAME 


649 


Keenan,  47,  153 

Keevan,  46,  51 

Kdley,  41,  47.  50,  132,  139,  149, 
161,  185,  20-2,  203,  230.  233,  248, 
320,  321,  322,  330,  448,  461,  476, 
505,  &c. 

Kennedy,  25,  26,  66,  104,  248,  279, 
329 

Kerry,  Lords  of,  23,  58,  59,  205,  286 

Kian,  37 

Kiernan,  46 

Kildarc.  23,  74,  108,  123,  143,  144, 
150,  156,  158,  187,  190,  195,  196, 
199,  201,  208,  209,  210,  211,  212, 
216,  217,  218, 219,  220.  221,  224, 
226,  227,  232,  239,  240,  243,  244, 
250,  251,  253,  255,  260,  262,  263, 
265,  271,  272,  273,  282,  317,  324, 
326,  331,  337,  338,  345,  376,  377, 
438,  448.  527,  &c. 

Kyttler,  Alice  C,  134 


152, 
272, 

488, 

286, 


145, 

197, 
215, 
225, 
246, 
264, 
325, 
421, 


Lacy,  21.  24,  25,  26,  29,  42,  127,  208 

Lalor,  47,  389 

Lally,  49 

Lambert,  48 

Lanigan,  108 

Larkin,  46 

Lascelles,  106 

Latimer,  308 

Laverty,  45,  46 

Lawless,  51 

Lawrence,  St  ,  24,  203,  204 

Leicester,  372,  376,  378 

Leger,  St.,  294,  304,  307,  315,  316,  317, 

318,  337 
Lennon,  51 
Leo  X.,  288 
Leonard,  47 
Leverous,  325,  383 
Lever,  109 
LevisoD,  596 
Liddy,  65 
Lincoln,  211,213 
Lisle,  65 
Lodge,  106 
Loftus,  383,  384 
Loghiin,  65 
Lombard,  77 
Long,  481 
Lonagan,  47 
Lorton,  287 
Lottner,  90 
Louth,  143,  175 
Lovell,  213 
Lover,  109 
Ludluw,  63 

Lynch,47,  325,383,  384 
82 


M 

Macavoy,  389 

]Macartliy.  17,  19,  21,  23,  33,  53,  59,  61, 

71,  72. 75,  108,  115,  125,  275,279,283, 

306,  323,  &c. 
MacCann,  46 
Macauley,  91,  424 
JNlacClancy,  50 
Maclean,  471 
MacCoghlin,  42,  477 
MacCoghwell,  46 
MacColreavy,  50 
MacCoury,  51,  52 
MacCracken,  45 
Macl'roissan,  45 
MacDarell,  51 
MacDavet,  45 
MacDavid,  516,  587 
MacDermot,  49,  129,  131,  149,  160,  161, 

166,202.204,230,235,  248,  253,  254, 

255,  256,  253,  476,  520,  523,  566 
MacDonnell,  109,  228.  255,  256,  314,  322, 

344,  350,  352,  363,  372,  373 
MacDonogh,  49,  160,  202,  204,  286 
IMacDorchy,  50,  51 
MacDowell,  50 
MacEgan,  52,  71,  139 
MacElligot,  59,  71 
MacEnnery,  68 
MacEvoy,  46 
MacFergus,  50 

MacFirbis,  51,  96,  102,  104,  106,  139 
MacFinnen,  72,  420 
M'Garahan,  47 
Macgauran,  505 
JNlacawley,  203 
Macgennis,  129,  176,  179,  253,  478,  488, 

5 12   523 
M"Geoghan,  440,  477,  524,  585 
McGioilamholmoge,  41 
MacGeraghty,  51 
M'Gilbride,  45 
MacGilvray,  47 
MacGlow,  50 
M'Golrick,  46 
Macgarman,  471 
Macgowan,  45,  51 
M'Grath,  168,  368 
M'Gregor,  107 
Macha,  41 
Machair,  575 
MacHale,  51 
Maclan,229 
Mac-I-brien-ara,  457 
Mac  Jordan,  149 
MacMahon,  17,  18,  33,  47,  59,  65,   183, 

261,  425,  512,526,  601 
MacMorrogh,    135,   151,   155,   156,    178, 

185,  194,  236,  247,  354 
MacMorris,  468 


250 


INDEX     OF     NAMES  . 


MacNamara,  59,  219,  239 

MacOwen,  46,  567 

MacQuade,  47 

MacQuillin,  180,  182,  222 

Macra,  119 

Macbheehy,  71,  567 

MacS weeny,  71 

Mac  Ward,  45,  312 

MacWilliam,  414,  533,  564,  588 

Macworth,  447 

Madden,  52,  108,  180,  206,  248,  338,  342 

Magee,  46,  105 

Magroarty,  367 

Maguire,  46,  47,  178,  181,  203,  204,  220, 

223,  237,  244,  338,  367,  368,  422,  470, 

474,  476,  488,  497,  501,  502,  503,  507, 

508,  510,  512,  513,  519,  525,  537,  540, 

557,  570,  580,  597 
Mahon,  54,  68 

Mahoney,  71,  74,  108,  137,  248,  &c. 
Maine,  44 
Malacbi,  16,  44 
Malbie,  427,  432,  438,  439,  441,  442,  448, 

452,  453,  468,  473 
Mallen,  45 
Malley,  36,  119,  130,  136,  149,  189,  248, 

257,  312,  401,  425,  520,  521,  588 
Mandeville,  130,  136 
Mannering,  485 
Matining,  52 
Marisco,  de,  22,  28,  29 
Mairigan,  41 
Massingbcrd,  335 
Masterson,  438 
Mattluagh,  119 
Montaigne,  531,  537,538 
Moore,  420,  423,  517,  522,  529,  539,  558, 

577,  &c. 
Morgan,  575 
Moriarty,  451 
Morogh,42l,  436 
Morrison,  550,  574,  577,  590,  591 
Mostyn,  603 
Mountgarret,  477 
Mountjoy,  557 
Mountnorris,  512 
Mulrooney,  514 
Muskerry,  417,  444,  472,  523 

N 

Nain,  139 

Neil,  17,  30,  34,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47.  49, 
54,  67,  71,  129,  131,  133,  144,  148,  154, 
160,  16),  168,  172,  173,  176,  179,  180, 
181,  185,  186,  196,  204,  206,  217,  220, 
222,  224,  226,  227,  228,  241,  244,  245, 
247,  250,  253,  257,  262,  269,  271,  313, 
314,  337,  338,  356,  358,  359,  360,  362, 
372,  374,  375,  387,  392,  398,  422,  427, 
431,  436,  444,  451,  463,  474,  476,  489, 


490,  500,  505,  513,  514,  518,  519,  522, 
524,  526,  528,  533,  534  (See  Tyrone.) 

Nennius,  36 

Neny,  47 

Nesta,  21,23,  25,  28,  58 

Nevil,  365 

Nolan,  41,  136 

Norris,  458,  485,  511,  513,  519,  520,  531, 
534,  543,  544,  568 

Nugent,  21 

0 

Oisin,  99 

Oliol,  44,  53 

O'Naghtan,  448 

Ormond,  421,  424,  428,  438,442,446,  449, 

452,  453,  459,  462,  467,  468,  472,  473, 

474,  505 
Oliver,  267 
Oscar,  118 
Ossian,  118 
Ossory,  263,  265,  266,  269,  270,  271,  272, 

273,  307,  308 

P 

Paget,  316 

Pandarus,  247 

Partholan,  12 

Patrick,  St.,  12,245.  284 

Pelliara,  442,  444,  574 

Pembridge,  141 

Pembroke,  13,  20 

Percy,  156 

Perrot,  242 

Petit,  21,  189,  193,266 

Phelan,  18 

Picket,  30 

Pierce,  30,  241 

Piggot,  389 

Plunket,  194,  195,  199,  299 

Poer,  le,  27,  77,  134,  201,  248,  306,  &c. 

Pole,  dela,  211 

Porter,  30 

Portlestcr,  200,  218,  271 

Powers,  31    306 

Poynings,  216,  221 

Prendergast,  11,  13,  29,  107,  &c. 

Preston,  200 

Price,  439 

Parcel,  450,  543 

R 

Radcliffe,  553 

Rafferty,  45 

Raleigh,  197,  198,  316 

Rawlins,  485 

Rawson ,  296 

Reilly,  36,  49,  137,  149,  151,  1.58,  175, 
176,  180,  220,  223,  241,  213,  253,  264, 
297,  316,  343,  353,  377,  392,  423,  452, 
476,  523,  5.32,  559,  &c. 


INDEX     OF     X  A  31  E  S  . 


251 


Richard  III.,  208 

Kidde!,  30 

Roche,  31,  33,  60,  76,  212,  213,  214,  296, 

344 
Rocheford,  30 
Rudatrhan,  153 
Roderick,  19,  21,  25,  149 
Rohan, 47 
Ronan, 57 
Rothhin,  51 
Roiirkc,  49,  432,  448,  469,  493,  495,  502, 

508,  510,  530,  540,  588,  589,  594,  &c. 
Ryan,  458 
Russel,  30 


Sadlier,  109 

fcjainthili,  198 

Salisluiry,  271,  347 

Saunders.  437,  442,  444,  464 

Savage,  30,  129,  141,  181,  229,  284 

Scaiilan,  45,  68 

Scrope,  158,  162 

Scullcv,  42 

Sebastian.  437,  446 

St'grave,  514 

Sexton,  66 

Seymour,  348 

Sgingan,  139 

Shaughnessy,  297 

Sheean,  52 

Sheehy,  71 

Sheridan,  48 

Sherlock,  335,  391 

Sherwood,  195,  200 

Shiel,  46 

Shrewsbury,  175,  176,  263,  278 

Simnel,  215,  264 

Skeffington,  261,  266,  269,  272,  275 

Skiddy,  30 

Slane,  30 

Smith,  30 

Sorleyboy,  359,  373,  423,  424,  474,  475, 

476,  489,  &c. 
Spenser,  105,  169 
Spillane,  51,  67 
Stackpole,  65 
Stafford,  107 
Stanihurst,  366 
Stanton,  30 

Stanley,  148,  158,  173,  342 
Stone,  485 
Stuart,  107 
Stukeley,  365 
Sullivan, 116, 137, 150, 186, 323, 390, 424, 

429,  442,  443,  471,  477,  522,  557,  618 
Sutton,  172 

Surrey,  155.  246,  251,  253,  260,  265 
Sus,«ex,  344,  351,  352,  353,  359,  360,  368, 

384 


Swartz,  213 

Sydney.  408,  422,  425,  427,  429,  432,  434, 
436,  494,  &c. 


Tnlbot,  171,  172,  173,  175,  176 

Tallon,30 

Taylor,  614 

Thackeray,  63 

Tliornton,  485 

Tobin,  30 

Toole,  41,  168,267,445,500 

Tracy,  47 

Trant,  71 

Tuathal,  37 

Tuite,  21 

Turner,  527 

Tyrconnel,  470,  502,  506,  515,  529,  540, 
580,  587,  588,  589,  591,  .598.  COO,  602 

Tyrone,  497,  499,  502, 506, 513, 514, 518, 
519,  527,  528,  .529,  536,  537,  540,  553, 
555,  559,  562,  563,  564,  575,  576,  578, 
579,  581.  582,  583,  590,  591,  600,  601, 
602,  603,  &c. 

Tyrrel,  21,  478,  542,  570,  585,  597,  609, 
610,  614,  &c. 


Ufford,  167 


Verdon,  De,  127 


U 


W 


Walwyn,  527 

Wingfield,  438,  445 

Waterhouse,  438,  453,  473 

Walsingham,  440,  431,  459 

Wilton,  445 

Wallop,  453,  454,  456,  457,  512 

Walsh,  104,  453 

AVhite,  473 

Wolsey,  494 

Warren,  498 

Williams,  519,  526 

Wilmot,  611,  615 

Walton,  30 

War  beck,  235 

Ware,  30 

AVaters,  30 

Welsh,  30,73 

Whyte,  30,  473 

Windsor,  141 

Wolfe,  30 

Wolsey,  251,  289 

Wolvaston,  30 

Wyse,  77 


INDEX  OF  BATTLES  AND  SIEGES. 


Ardnarae,  158H, 
Armagh,    1588, 

1596, 

1597, 
Asearoe,     1380, 

1597, 
Ath-an-Choileir,  1497, 
Athdown.  1404, 
Athlone,  1380, 
Athenry,  1315, 
Athy,  1419, 
Aughrim,  1602, 
Awnsby,  1600, 


B 

Balerath,  1288, 
Ballalwy,  1494, 
Balleek,  1594, 
1596, 
Ballihickey,  1496, 
Balliho,  1602, 
Balliloe,  1475, 
Balliehannon,  1433, 
"  1587, 

Ballieophy,  1548, 
Bannockburn, 1314, 
Beanna  Boirche,  1490, 
Belfast,  1551, 
Binn,  1529, 
Binnen, 1600, 
Biscuits,  1593, 
Blackwater,  1597, 
1598, 
Blarney, 
Bray,  1403, 


453  Callan,  1260,  133 

494  Camus,  1521,  250 

518  Carrighee,  1588,  492 

528  Carrickfergus,  1597,  529 

135  Carrigafoyte,  1579,  444 

525  Carlingford,  1600,  583 

227  Claririckard.  1366,  132 

162  Cioghan,  1596,  516 

150  Clonmel,  67 

128  Clontibret,  1595,  572 

170  Colloony.  1599,  551 
621  Cressy,  1345,            139-145 

561  Crosmacrin,  1495,  203 
CurlewMountuins,  1599, 550 


217 

224 
503 
576 
218 
601 
203 
182 
525 
320 
127 
226 
322 
262 
588 
503 
526 
532 
615 
158 


D 

Derrj-ness,  1588, 
Derrylahan,  1589, 
Desertcreigh,  1281, 
Donegal,  1601, 
Doonierin,  1538, 
Drumleen,  1522, 
Dublin,  1431, 
Dufferin,  1444. 
Dundalk,  1270, 
Dundrum,  1517, 
Dunluce,  1571, 
Dysart,  1318,  63, 


E 

Ely,  1393, 

Enniskiilen,  1594,   502- 
Esker,  1475, 


Faughard.  1318, 
Fearsat  iMor,  1392, 
Flodden,  1513, 
Finita,  1599, 

128 
150 

229 
550 

G 

Gawla,  1250, 
Glanog,  1469, 
Glendalough. 
Gkntow,  1565, 
Glengariff,  1602, 
Glin,'l600, 

118 
203 
126 
363 
619 
565 

I 

Inverlochy, 
Ishin,  1600, 

228 
564 

K 

496 
126 
5891 

256  Kenlis,  1396,  156 

254  Killeachy,  1407,  161 

186;Kilmainham,  1409,  159 

183  Kilmacrenan,  1566,  369 

150  Killoony,  1596,  519 

243  Kincora,  1558,  186 

4~6  Kinsale,  1601,  599 

136  Knocavo,  1522,  254 

Knocto,  1504,  220 


148 

50i  Leix,  1600,         517 

203  Lifiord,  1600,        580 


654 


INDEX    OF    BATTLES    AND    SIEGES. 


Limerick,  1505, 

235 

0 

Sligo,  1470. 

204 

Lismore,  1580, 

449 

Offaly, 

158 

"      1595', 

525 

Lougherne,  1602, 

623 

Omagli,  1471, 

206 

"      1597, 

528 

Orgial,  1466, 

194 

Smerwick,  1580, 
Stradbally,  1597, 

446 
522 

M 

P 

Suck, 

588 

Maynooth,  1535, 

270 

Pillstown,  1462, 

191 

T 

Molachbreac,  1596, 

519 

Plumes,  1579, 

549 

Monairhan,  1595, 

512 

Poictiers,  1356, 

145 

Thurles,  1170, 

18 

Monbraher,  1510, 

239 

Portcrust,  1596, 

521 

Talks,  1593, 

503 

Monasteriorie,  1521, 

249 

Portmore,  1597, 

531 

Tyrrel's  Pass,  1597, 

528 

Monasternana,  1579, 

440 

Mourna,  1492, 

222 

R 

W 

Mourne  Abbev,  1521, 

249 

Moyalis,  1498;' 

219 

Rosver,  1599, 

549 

Waterford,  1171, 

19 

Moylung,  1490, 

224 

Moyry  Pass,  1599, 

576 

S 

Y 

"      1600, 

581 

Mullingar,  1328, 

136 

Sandy  Bay, 1602, 
Skurinore,  1468, 

611 
204 

youghall,  1580, 

443 

1 


ERRATA. 

Page    10,  line  IG,  o»!(7  "  Trench  and." 
"        22,    "    22,  read  Henry  tlie  Second's,  instead  of  "  John's." 

was  for  nearly,  instead  of  "  has  been  for." 

for,  instead  of  "at." 

them,  instead  of  "  these." 

1177,  instead  of  "  1129." 

1318,      "        "    "1217." 
are. 

109  A.D. 
12,  read  Carrigaphoyle. 

kings  of  the. 

Batb,  instead  of  "  Welsh." 

R.  I.  A.- 

Duigenan. 

which,  instead  of  "  what." 

American  edition  by  Mahoney. 

1634  instead  of  "  1604." 

many,  instead,  of  "twenty." 

Joyce's  Irish  Names,  Flanagan's  Lord  Chancellors,  1870,  and  Hart's 
Irish  Pedigrees,  1876. 

1375,  instead  of  "  177-5." 

Edmund,  instead  of  "  Edward." 

elegances,  instead  of  "  elements." 

scion,  instead  of  "  sire." 

O'Donnel,  instead  of  "  O'Donnor." 

third,  instead  of  "  first." 

Kilmallock. 

country,  instead  of  "  county." 

who  was  kept. 

raged,  instead  of  "  waged." 

chary,  instead  of  "  cheery." 

no  wiser. 

Judith,  instead  of  "  Joan." 

MicSweeny  Banagh. 

soon  after,  instead  of  "  already." 

Note. — Gerald  of  Desmond,  killed  1.583,  is  most  usually  termed  sixteenth  eai'l  of  his  line  ; 
his  son  Gerald,  who  died  1601,  seventeenth.  Tiie  affix  to  the  name  of  Burkes  of  Clanrick- 
ard  is  "  Oughter"  the  upper;  of  those  of  Mayo,  "Eighter"  the  lower. 


23, 

"      5, 

2.5, 

"      8, 

25, 

"    16, 

26, 

"    29, 

27, 

"    28, 

36, 

"    27, 

43, 

"    16, 

70, 

"    12, 

71, 

"    19, 

73, 

"    19, 

95, 

"    32, 

102, 

"    16, 

102, 

"    21, 

103, 

"    28, 

104, 

"     3, 

107, 

"    24, 

108, 

"    13, 

149, 

"      2, 

157, 

"    20, 

159, 

"    31, 

233, 

"    14, 

240, 

"    11, 

279, 

"    13, 

294, 

"    26, 

304, 

"    26, 

339, 

"      5, 

375, 

"      8, 

378, 

"    10, 

379, 

"    32, 

421, 

"      1, 

496, 

"    17, 

571, 

"    31, 

Date 

Due 

i 

DEC  18 '33 

r 

f) 

BOSTON 


COLLfTGE 


3  iffSflfll 


42616 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  HEIGHTS 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

Books  may  be  kept  for  two  weeks  and  may 
be  renewed  for  the  same  period,  unless  re- 
served. 

Two  cents  a  day  is  charged  for  each  book 
kept  overtime. 

If  you  cannot  find  what  you  want,  ask  the 
Librarian  who  will  be  glad  to  help  you. 

The  borrower  is  responsible  for  books  drawn 
on  his  card  and  for  all  6nes  accruing  on  the 
same. 


